1.2 Strategic Plan

In 1979, Archie Cochrane, a British physician, criticised the medical profession for not having established a system for producing up-to-date summaries of the results of reliable research about the effects of health care. The Cochrane Collaboration was founded in 1993 to respond to Cochrane’s challenge, and evolved rapidly over the subsequent three years.

Building on this initial experience, The Cochrane Collaboration’s Steering Group developed a Strategic Plan to guide The Cochrane Collaboration’s evolution over the next five years, which was accepted at The Cochrane Collaboration’s annual Colloquium in October 1996. This Plan, which guided The Cochrane Collaboration’s evolution over the subsequent six years, was revised in the light of the evolving nature of the organisation. An updated version was prepared at the April 2002 meeting of the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group, and all Cochrane entities were involved in a wide consultation that ended in September 2002. Another update was made in 2005.

April 2011

Publication of an up-to-date, organisation-wide set of strategies designed to fulfil the Collaboration’s four principal goals (Section 1.2.1.) will coincide with the release of the 2010-11 Annual Report, in October 2011. In the meantime, please refer to the Recommendations Report of the 2008-9 Strategic Review of the Collaboration, which is guiding us in our preparation of these strategies, here. You can also access the previous versions of the Strategic Plan on this page and the 2010-11 Steering Group Workplan.

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