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 5.0.0. Version 5.0.1 is due for release in September 2008 to coincide with the publication of the Handbook as a hardback book by Wiley-Blackwell.

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?

Browse the Handbook online (Version 5.0.0, updated February 2008)

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

The current Handbook may be cited as: Higgins JPT, Green S (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 5.0.0 [updated February 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.

 

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

 

Printable versions

The Handbook is scheduled to be published as a hardback book by Wiley-Blackwell in late September 2008.

Printable versions of all Handbook chapters (Version 5.0.0) are available to members of The Cochrane Collaboration via Archie (go to Resources/The Cochrane Collaboration/Handbook Advisory Group/Files).

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

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

 

Supplementary material

The browseable 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

Version 4.2.6 of the Handbook (updated September 2006) is available as a PDF:

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

 

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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Comments for improvement or correction are welcome.
sally.green@med.monash.edu.au