From July, Cochrane will be introducing word limits for our reviews, updates, and protocols, to help keep our evidence focused, concise, and more accessible for readers.
Why are we introducing word limits?
Every author wants people to read their review and act on its findings, but especially decision-makers are time-pressed. To help make our reviews, updates, and protocols more focused and impactful, we are bringing in word limits in 2026.
Rather than seeing this as a restriction, we invite authors to view it as an opportunity to reflect on the scope of their review and consider how much detail is needed to answer their research question. A word limit has been recommended in the Handbook for over a decade, but now we are going to be applying this, encouraging authors to be more concise in their reviews.
By encouraging more focused and effective writing, use of tables and supplementary materials, we aim to make reviews easier to write, edit, and peer-review, ultimately helping readers find, understand and utilize the evidence more quickly.
What’s new?
Reviews and updates will have a maximum of 12,000 words. The following sections of review or update will contribute towards the word limit:
- Abstract
- Plain language summary
- Background
- Objectives
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Author’s conclusions
Protocols will have a limit of 6,000 words. The following sections of a protocol will contribute towards the word limit:
- Background
- Objectives
- Methods
These limits will apply to all new submissions from July 1, 2026. Manuscripts exceeding these limits from July onwards will not be able to be submitted.
Start planning
It is important to plan the write up of your review as early in the process as you can. Even if you’re planning to submit before June 30, check your word count now and make early adjustments. This will help avoid last-minute surprises and ensure your work meets the new requirements.
To help you prepare, RevMan now has warnings triggered at 10,000 words for reviews and updates, and 5,000 words for protocols.
These warnings should also serve as a reminder that post-submission revisions must also stay within the word limit. So, avoid maxing out the limit at submission – leave room for edits!
If you’re planning an update of an existing review that exceeds the new word limit, you may need to edit the review to bring it under 12,000 words if you are planning to submit after June 30 2026. When planning your update, think carefully about the scope as well as word count. The updating framework can help shape the approach you take, keeping you focused on synthesizing evidence to address the most important question.
Author guidance
We will be working with an author focus group to identify the most effective approach to developing guidance. In addition, we will hold two webinars to support authors in writing more focused and concise reviews. The first will cover how to scope a review and introduce the new word‑limit features in RevMan. The second will provide practical advice on structuring reviews to meet the new word‑limit requirements. Dates will be announced in due course.
