3.2.2.14 Registering a Cochrane Review Group

Registering the Cochrane Review Group is the responsibility of the proposed Co-ordinating Editor with the help of the people who have co-ordinated the exploratory meeting and other potential editors and authors. A report of the Group’s deliberations and conclusions needs to be prepared, which will include consideration of the elements expected of a Cochrane Review Group outlined previously. The minutes of the meeting should be drafted with input from those who are going to participate in the Group, and be endorsed by them. Drafts of the report should be sent to the director of the reference Cochrane Centre for comment. An agreed version of the report should then be sent to the Monitoring and Registration Committee (MaRC), together with all the supporting documentation required for registration. The required documents are:

• A covering letter addressed to the MaRC
• A letter of endorsement from the Director of the reference Cochrane Centre
• A written report of the exploratory meeting
• Letters of support and commitment from those who are going to be members of the Cochrane Review Group
• A draft module entry, including details of the reviews that the editors and other authors intend to supply to The Cochrane Library as soon as feasible after registration
• [A checklist is available to help with Cochrane Review Group registration.]

The letter of application to register the Cochrane Review Group with The Cochrane Collaboration is included as section 3.2.8.4 to illustrate the type of information that is required. Ideally by this stage, the Group will have identified some financial resources to support it, and may then be able to appoint a Managing Editor.