3.2.2.12 Identifying authors

Potential authors need to be clear about the commitment they are making. They are being asked to undertake a substantial amount of work in preparing a systematic review in the first place, and then to keep it up to date as new evidence becomes available and as comments and criticisms are submitted.

The number of authors in Groups varies, and depends on how Cochrane Review Groups decide to organise themselves. It is important that they do not exclude particular groups of people, and that they try to include authors from a mix of professional backgrounds and care perspectives, as well as a variety of countries.

Whilst enthusiasm and time are the first essential qualities in an author, each needs to combine knowledge about the topic in which s/he is interested with a willingness to apply methodological rigour to the review process. This combination of qualities rarely exists within a single individual. More often, it will be necessary to arrange author partnerships, to try to ensure that content and methodological expertise are both applied in preparing reviews. Such partnerships are generally preferable to working alone, even when both partners possess both types of expertise, to ensure the reproducibility of the judgements that are necessary in preparing reviews. One author will sometimes miss something that the other will pick up. It is also very likely that they will complement each other in various ways, and it is often more fun to work with someone else.

Methods of training include:

• workshops on developing protocols and using the Review Manager software that are run by several Cochrane Centres.
• in-house training sessions run by individual Cochrane Review Groups.
• the development of methodological standards by each Cochrane Review Group (e.g. standard proformas for assessing trial quality and extracting data, and standardisation of the data to be included in the Included Studies table). This may be difficult as even within Cochrane Review Groups, individual reviews may have varying data types and quality requirements. These standards are described in each Cochrane Review Group module.
• the maintenance of links with relevant Cochrane Methods Groups so that Cochrane Review Groups are guided by the best available methods.
• all reviews will be published on The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in The Cochrane Library and therefore need to reach a standard acceptable to the editors of the Cochrane Review Group.
• comments on protocols from the editorial team and from others can be extremely helpful in the ongoing training of authors. The editorial process should be seen as constructive criticism aimed at educating and raising standards.