4th edition (September 2009)
The Cochrane Style Guide is designed to help review authors and people responsible for copy-editing to use a consistent style when copy-editing Cochrane Reviews and other documents produced by The Cochrane Collaboration.
Description: The Cochrane Style Guide is designed to help review authors and people responsible for copy-editing to use a consistent style when copy-editing Cochrane Reviews and other documents produced by The Cochrane Collaboration.
Intended users: Editorial teams and copy editors, people preparing official Cochrane documents, authors preparing Cochrane Reviews.
Prepared by: Cochrane Style Guide Working Group.
Contact: Harriet MacLehose, co-ordinator.
Current version: September 2009, 4th edition.
A two-page document containing essential copy-editing guidance for authors is also available: Cochrane Style Guide Basics.
What's new
The sections annotated with * refer to the sections in which changes have made between the beta-edition (published May 2008) and the final edition (published May 2009); see details in the full Cochrane Style Guide.
| Section |
Change |
| Rationale for new version |
Release of Review Manager 5.0 and the new version of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions |
| Cochrane Style Guide Basics* |
Included in the Cochrane Style Guide for the first time |
| Abbreviations and acronyms* |
Commonly used abbreviations: added inverse variance (IV) and Mantel-Haenszel (M-H); and updated guidance for number needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome/harmful outcome Additions to abbreviations to avoid: week and weight |
| Additional figure: Cochrane Review |
Renamed ‘Figures: Cochrane Review’ |
| Author contact details: Cochrane Review* |
Clarification of format of telephone and fax numbers. Indicated which fields are mandatory in RevMan 5. Modified guidance for entering zip/postal codes |
| Character formatting |
‘Font effects’ and ‘Font styles’ have been merged into a new section called ‘Character formatting’ |
| Common terms |
Modified guidance for the Chi2 statistic (or Chi2 test) and added guidance for the I2 statistic, Tau2, and time-to-event analysis |
| Computer software used to prepare and view Cochrane Reviews |
Modified section to reflect the new version of software (RevMan 5); removed screenshots as may not accurately reflect final format of published reviews |
| Figures |
Updated to reflect RevMan 5 features |
| Font effects and styles |
These have been merged into a new section called ‘Character formatting’ |
| Headings: Cochrane Review* |
Updated to reflect new heading levels in RevMan 5 |
| Hyphens |
Moved to section on ‘Punctuation’ |
| Indentation in Cochrane Reviews* |
Updated to reflect RevMan 5 features |
| Lists* |
Comprehensively revised according to new features in RevMan 5 (including automated list functions) |
| Names: Family names |
Updated to include guidance on Chinese names |
| Names: Specific to The Cochrane Collaboration* |
Deleted the Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews, ModMan, RevMan Analyses, and Statistical Analysis. Changed The Cochrane Manual to The Cochrane Policy Manual Added review author as an alternative to “author”, Cochrane Review of Diagnostic Test Accuracy, Cochrane Handbook for Diagnostic Test Accuracy Reviews, Cochrane Information Management System (IMS), Archie |
| Numbers |
Minus sign recommended |
| Paragraph break |
New section |
| Punctuation* |
Added ‘hyphens’. Removed guidance to use single quotation marks around references to other sections in a Cochrane Review since can now be inserted as hyperlinks |
| References* |
The Cochrane Style Guide is now the main source of information for all reference types (previously held in the RevMan 4 User Guide). The reference list has had a major revision and has been adapted for Review Manager 5 Added a reference format for electronic journal publications ahead of print; and updated references for the Cochrane Handbook |
| Search methods: citing databases and search registers |
Removed guidance regarding the automatic insertion of text referring to a Cochrane Review Group’s search strategy |
| Spacing |
Deleted; replaced with ‘Paragraph break’ |
| Statistical and mathematical presentation |
Decimal places: text changed to focus on odds ratios, risk ratios, and standardized mean differences P value: text modified based on feedback from statistician |
| Symbols and special characters |
Revised to show the new symbols available in RevMan 5 Minus symbol inserted with reference to symbol in RevMan 5 |
| Tables: Cochrane Review |
Comprehensively revised for the new types of tables available in RevMan 5 |
| Titles of Cochrane Reviews |
Specific guidance deleted; refers readers to the Handbook for guidance on the structure of titles for Cochrane Reviews of Interventions. General style guidance still included in the Cochrane Style Guide |
Feedback
Contact Harriet MacLehose if you would like to suggest an addition or change to the Cochrane Style Guide.
Cochrane Style Guide Working Group
The Cochrane Style Guide is prepared by the Cochrane Style Guide Working Group. The Group discusses feedback submitted by people within The Cochrane Collaboration and provides direction on the content.
About the Cochrane Style Guide
The Cochrane Style Guide was originally developed by the participants of project called the 'Prospective copy edit pilot'. It was approved for use within The Cochrane Collaboration on 6 December 2002 by The Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group.
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