2.2.12 Withdrawal or suspension of complimentary copies of The Cochrane Library

2.2.12.1 Withdrawal

The Contact Person for each published Cochrane Review* will receive a complimentary subscription to The Cochrane Library as long as their review is updated at least every two years. The exact expiry date of the Contact Person's subscription is two and a half years from the date when the published review was 'assessed as up to date'.

*This does not apply to Protocols.

The policy of withdrawal of complimentary copies of The Cochrane Library from the Contact Person of a review took effect from Issue 1, 2002 (i.e. for reviews that had not been updated since Issue 3, 1999). This meant that Issue 2, 2002 was the first issue for which complimentary copies could be withdrawn from Contact Persons. Implementation of this policy was subsequently monitored, and the CCSG agreed in November 2008 that the Contact Persons of published reviews should receive a complimentary subscription to The Cochrane Library for approximately two years.

2.2.12.2 Suspension

In May 2009 the Editor in Chief notified the contact people, of all published reviews which had been assessed as up to date within the preceding two years, of their eligibility for complimentary online access to The Cochrane Library, with effect from Issue 3, 2009. Alternatively, contact people who wished to continue to receive complimentary access offline could continue to do so, but the CDs would be replaced by DVDs: this was because there were now six CDs for each issue of The Cochrane Library and the environmental cost of producing and distributing them had become a major issue. As a further alternative, contact people could donate their complimentary subscription to someone else with an entry in Archie. The same message was conveyed to Cochrane entities (other than Review Groups) regarding each entity’s entitlement to one complimentary subscription, and to Review Groups regarding their entitlement to up to seven complimentary copies of each issue that they had been receiving in the past. Suspending unwanted or unused complimentary subscriptions would sensibly release funds to further the Collaboration’s goals.