3.2.2.3 Contacting Cochrane Centres

To avoid misunderstandings and confusion, people should contact their reference Cochrane Centre if they think that a new Cochrane Review Group may be justified.

For a Cochrane Review Group to become registered as part of The Cochrane Collaboration, its members have to demonstrate that they have a long-term commitment to the task, and to show that the Group has made every effort to avoid domination by one particular individual, institution, discipline or country. Cochrane Centres help to facilitate the evolution of a Cochrane Review Group, and any application for registration requires a letter of endorsement from the relevant Cochrane Centre to the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group. Members of staff at Cochrane Centres are involved in the following ways:

• by providing time for one or more representatives of the potential Group to visit a Cochrane Centre for face-to-face discussions with the director and any other people who may be able to help.
• by keeping The Cochrane Collaboration as a whole up to date about developments after the exploratory meeting. This is possible only if the individuals helping to co-ordinate a new Group stay in touch with the Centre.
• by commenting on draft letters, strategy documents, applications for funds, meeting agendas, and so on, to help facilitate the development of the Group in ways that have been shown to work in the past.
• by attending, contributing to, and usually chairing the initial phases of exploratory meetings convened to assess whether the basis and the will exist to establish a new Cochrane Review Group.
• by running workshops for potential authors on ‘How to develop a protocol’ and ‘How to put a review into RevMan’, and by giving advice and training in handsearching.