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The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is the official document that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions. The current version of the Handbook is 5.0.1 (updated September 2008). It is available in various formats, as detailed below.

A Glossary is available to accompany the Handbook. The current version of the Glossary is 4.2.5.

A short summary of some of the main changes in Handbook version 5 is available as a PDF: What's New in Handbook 5? To find out what's new in Version 5.0.1, see the What's New page.

Browse the Handbook online at www.cochrane-handbook.org

Version 5.0.1 [updated September 2008] was uploaded in browsable format on November 7th, 2008.  It should be cited as:

• Higgins JPT, Green S (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 5.0.1 [updated September 2008]. The Cochrane Collaboration, 2008. Available from www.cochrane-handbook.org.

Details of how to cite individual chapters are available at the end of each chapter.

The browsable Handbook is also available from the help menu in Review Manager 5 (software for composing Cochrane Reviews).

 

Printable versions of the Handbook

The Handbook was published as a hardback book by Wiley-Blackwell in September 2008.

• Wiley web site
• Amazon.co.uk
• Amazon.com

Printable (PDF) versions of all Handbook chapters (Version 5.0.1) are available to members of The Cochrane Collaboration via Archie (under Handbook Advisory Group in the Resources section). A full index is also available via Archie.

 

Browse the Glossary of terms online (Version 4.2.5, updated May 2005)

The current version of the Glossary is also available as a PDF:

• The Cochrane Collaboration Glossary : Version 4.2.5, May 2005 [PDF] 383KB

 

Supplementary material

The browsable Handbook includes Appendix A: Guide to the contents of a Cochrane Methodology protocol and review

The following supplementary material is available for download.

Chapter 9: Analysing data and undertaking meta-analyses

• Statistical algorithms in Review Manager 5  November 2007 [PDF] 93KB

Chapter 11: Presenting results and 'Summary of findings' tables

• Considerations and recommendations for figures in Cochrane reviews: graphs of statistical data December 2003; updated February 2008 [PDF] 104KB

Chapter 13: Non-randomized studies

• Data collection form for non-randomized studies [Word] 81KB
• Newcastle-Ottawa scale for assessing quality of a cohort study [Word] 45 KB

 

Previous versions

• Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 4.2.6: September 2006 [PDF] 2.8MB
• Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 5.0.0: February 2008 [browsable]

 

Contact email addresses for the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions

Julian Higgins (Co-Editor)
MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge, UK
Email: julian.higgins@mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk

Sally Green (Co-Editor)
Australasian Cochrane Centre, Melbourne, Australia
Email: sally.green@med.monash.edu.au

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Copyright © The Cochrane Collaboration
Comments for improvement or correction are welcome.
sally.green@med.monash.edu.au