Effective 1 September 2024
Previous version Effective until 1 September 2024 available here.
These Terms comprise a legal agreement between you ("you") and The Cochrane Collaboration, a company limited by guarantee and charity registered in England and Wales with company number 03044323 and charity number 1045921 whose registered office is at 11-13 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0AN, United Kingdom ("Cochrane").
1. Definitions:
"Cochrane Group" means a Cochrane Thematic Group, Field, Geographic Group, Methods Group, Review Group, or Evidence Synthesis Unit.
"Cochrane Systems" means any Cochrane online systems that you access via your Cochrane Account, including but not limited to RevMan, Cochrane Interactive Learning ("CIL"), Cochrane Engage ("Engage"), Cochrane Crowd ("Crowd"), and Cochrane Register of Studies ("CRS"), and any online help-files, written manuals or email support associated with those online systems.
"Commercial Use" means use for further redistribution, sale or licensing; with advertising; with any other works, content or services; or for the purposes of monetary reward by means of sale, resale, licence, loan, hire, transfer, use or other form of commercial exploitation.
"Content" means any content, contributions and/or data in whatever form or language (including but not limited to text, comments, messages, images, audio, graphics, or other multimedia) that you upload, submit and/or publish in, on or to the Cochrane Systems.
"Core Role" means a status assigned to individuals with Cochrane Accounts who also have roles in Cochrane Groups, which gives them access to certain systems and tools they can use in connection with their role in a Cochrane Group.
"Malware" means any thing or device (including any software, code, file or programme) which may: prevent, impair or otherwise adversely affect the operation of any computer software, hardware or network, any telecommunications service, equipment or network or any other service or device; prevent, impair or otherwise adversely affect access to or the operation of any programme or data, including the reliability of any programme or data (whether by re-arranging, altering or erasing the programme or data in whole or part or otherwise); or adversely affect the user experience, including worms, trojan horses, viruses and other similar things or devices.
2. Cochrane Account
2.1. Your Cochrane Account is your primary means of logging in to the Cochrane Systems. You will be required to create a username and password in order to create a Cochrane Account. Each Cochrane Account must be created and used by one genuine individual only, solely for the purposes permitted by these Terms and any other reasonable purposes approved by Cochrane in writing. You must not share your login details or password. It is your responsibility to set a strong password (i.e. one that is difficult for both humans and computers to guess), to not divulge it to third parties, and to change it if you think it may have been compromised.
2.2. Cochrane will contact you about issues relating to your Cochrane Account. We will always use your primary email address for general communications. Your secondary email address is a back-up that we will only use if there is a problem with your primary email address.
2.3. To receive newsletters or other general communications from Cochrane you will need to opt in to receive communications within your Cochrane Account. If you are opted in to communications, we may use the information you provide in the ‘interests’ section to send you tailored communications in your area of interest.
3. Use of Cochrane Systems
3.1. This clause applies to your use of any Cochrane Systems. Individual Cochrane Systems may also have additional terms of subscription and/or terms of use which apply to their use.
3.2. Access to the Cochrane Systems is conditional on permissions granted at Cochrane’s discretion (in accordance with any applicable Cochrane policies). A subscription is required to access some of the Cochrane Systems. Some subscriptions will require the payment of a subscription fee.
3.3. Cochrane Systems can log all actions performed by users. Cochrane retains the right to analyse the logs for security, optimisation or other reasonable purposes and may aggregate your usage data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Cochrane System. If Cochrane combines or connects aggregated data with your Personal Data, such combined or connected data will be treated in accordance with clause 10. Cochrane’s system administrators will have access to data held within your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems for operational purposes only.
3.4. Cochrane Systems will track you using cookies. The primary purpose is to verify that you are logged in, but we are also able to record the pages you visit, which is used for compiling usage statistics.
3.5. Subject to your compliance with these Terms and any other applicable terms and the payment of your subscription fee (where applicable), Cochrane hereby grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, royalty-free, revocable, worldwide licence to use the Cochrane Systems for non-Commercial Use for the period that these Terms are in force.
3.6. You are not permitted to use the Cochrane Systems for Commercial Use, unless expressly stated otherwise in any other applicable terms referenced in these Terms. If you wish to request permission to use the Cochrane Systems for Commercial Use, please email support@cochrane.org.
3.7. You must comply with all applicable laws, including but not limited to technology control and export laws and regulations.
3.8. You are solely responsible for your own Content, including but not limited to ensuring its accuracy, quality, integrity and legality and the consequences of uploading, submitting and/or publishing it in, on and/or to the Cochrane Systems. You must not upload, submit and/or publish any Content which you do not own or have the rights to use, or any material that:
3.8.1. is unlawful, harmful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, infringing, harassing or racially or ethnically offensive;
3.8.2. facilitates illegal activity;
3.8.3. depicts sexually explicit images;
3.8.4. promotes unlawful violence;
3.8.5. is discriminatory based on race, gender, colour, religious belief, sexual orientation, disability; or
3.8.6. is otherwise illegal or causes damage or injury to any person or property.
3.9. Restrictions. Unless expressly permitted by these Terms, you must not, nor attempt to:
3.9.1. copy, modify, duplicate, create derivative works from, frame, mirror, republish, download, display, transmit, or distribute all or any portion of the Cochrane Systems (as applicable) in any form or media or by any means;
3.9.2. de-compile, reverse compile, disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise reduce to human-perceivable form all or any part of the Cochrane Systems;
3.9.3. conduct any form of testing or scanning on the Cochrane Systems, including but not limited to penetration testing, security testing, vulnerability scanning, the use of automated tools, manual testing and any other methods designed to discover vulnerabilities, weaknesses or security issues;
3.9.4. access all or any part of the Cochrane Systems in order to build a product or service which competes with the Cochrane Systems;
3.9.5. license, sub-license, sell, rent, lease, transfer, assign, distribute, display, disclose, or otherwise commercially exploit, or otherwise make the Cochrane Systems available to any third party;
3.9.6. obtain, or assist third parties in obtaining, access to the Cochrane Systems, other than as provided under this clause;
3.9.7. introduce or permit the introduction of any Malware into Cochrane’s network and information systems;
3.9.8. block any functionality of the Cochrane Systems or copy any features or functions of the Cochrane Systems, including but not limited to their ‘look and feel’, visual design elements or concepts;
3.9.9. misuse or harvest other user content from the Cochrane Systems;
3.9.10. use the Cochrane Systems to generate mass mailings;
3.9.11. use, directly or indirectly, the name, logo or other marks of Cochrane, including but not limited to any names, logos and marks associated with the Cochrane Systems, without Cochrane’s prior written consent; or
3.9.12. label any output of your use of any of the Cochrane Systems in such a way as to indicate that it is work endorsed or approved by Cochrane, unless and until it is accepted for publication by Cochrane.
3.10. You acknowledge that the Cochrane Systems have not been developed to meet your individual requirements, and that it is therefore your responsibility to ensure that the facilities and functions of the Cochrane Systems meet your requirements.
3.11. Additional terms applicable to CRS:
3.11.1. Cochrane collects usage information to help Cochrane improve CRS, and this may be used in particular for the following purposes:
a) internal record keeping and report generation;
b) the sending of emails periodically to promote new CRS functions or other information relating to CRS;
c) the customisation of CRS; and/or
d) the conduct of experiments and tests regarding the use of various CRS features.
3.12. Additional terms applicable to Crowd:
3.12.1. Cochrane collects usage information to help Cochrane improve Crowd, and this may be used in particular for the following purposes:
a) internal record keeping and report generation;
b) the sending of emails periodically to promote new Crowd functions, new micro-tasks or other information relating to Crowd;
c) the customisation of Crowd;
d) the conduct of experiments and tests regarding the use of various Crowd features; and/or
e) research-related studies and other work. For example, Cochrane might use one of your classifications as an illustration in a paper, show some of your classifications to other users to see if they agree or disagree, or publish statistics about user interaction.
3.12.2. When evaluating Crowd platform and task performance, Cochrane may randomly and blindly assign tasks or contributors to certain conditions for A/B testing.
3.13. Additional terms applicable to CIL:
3.13.1. If you require a subscription in order to use CIL, your use of CIL is also subject to the latest version of the CIL Terms of Subscription, available on Cochrane’s website.
3.13.2. Cochrane reserves the right at any time to update or withdraw from CIL any content or resource. Cochrane shall give written notice to users of substantive changes to content.
3.13.3. You may search, view, retrieve and display complete CIL resources and print a copy of individual modules for personal use.
3.13.4. You must not:
a) systematically download content from CIL;
b) systematically make print or electronic copies of multiple extracts or make multiple copies of any part of CIL for any purpose;
c) alter, abridge, adapt or modify CIL, except to the extent necessary to make the content perceptible on a computer screen. You may not alter words or their order;
d) publish, distribute or make available the whole or any part of CIL, works based on the materials or works which combine them with any other material;
e) use text mining technologies to derive information from CIL;
f) include any part of CIL on any learning management system; or
g) remove or alter the authors’ names or Cochrane’s copyright notices or other means of identification or any disclaimers which appear in CIL.
3.13.5. The aim of CIL is to provide good practice guidance relevant to the topics covered in each module. The assessments provided are designed to demonstrate your achievement of the course learning objectives, and the certificate issued confirms this achievement. Passing a CIL course and receiving a certificate does not certify that you are qualified to author a Cochrane review or entitled to publish or register for publication a review with Cochrane.
3.13.6. If your access to CIL requires a subscription and that subscription expires or is terminated, your access to CIL will cease immediately.
3.13.7. If your CIL subscription has been purchased on your behalf by your employer, educational institution or equivalent, you accept and acknowledge that data pertaining to your usage of CIL, including but not limited to your name, the status of your progress through modules and details of any assessment evaluations, may be shared by Cochrane with subscription holder.
3.14. Additional terms applicable to RevMan:
3.14.1. If you require a subscription in order to use RevMan, your use of RevMan is subject to the subscriber paying the subscription fee, providing Cochrane with sufficient information to identify you as an authorised user of the subscription, and complying with the latest version of the RevMan Terms of Subscription available on Cochrane’s website.
3.14.2. You are only permitted to use RevMan for carrying out systematic reviews or parts of systematic reviews. It is your responsibility to obtain all hardware, software and other equipment and any telecommunication services required to access RevMan, and Cochrane is not responsible for any charges that you may incur in doing so. Clause 3.6 (restriction on Commercial Use) does not apply to your use of RevMan.
3.14.3. Cochrane shall have no liability to you for:
3.14.3.1. any damage caused by errors or omissions in any information, instructions or scripts provided to Cochrane by you in connection with RevMan, or any actions taken by Cochrane at your direction;
3.14.3.2. any delays, delivery failures, or any other loss or damage resulting from the transfer of data over communications networks and facilities, including the internet, and you acknowledge that RevMan may be subject to limitations, delays and other problems inherent in the use of such communications facilities; or
3.14.3.3. any loss of or corruption to data held within RevMan due to causes which are outside of Cochrane’s reasonable control.
3.14.4. If your access to RevMan requires a subscription and that subscription expires or is terminated, Cochrane is entitled to revoke your access to RevMan.
3.14.5. If your access to RevMan requires a subscription, it is your responsibility to download any data held in RevMan which you wish to retain, before the Subscription Period ends. Cochrane may retain or may delete the Subscriber’s or any Authorised Users’ data which is held in RevMan, at Cochrane’s discretion.
3.14.6. If your RevMan subscription has been purchased on your behalf, you accept and acknowledge that data pertaining to your usage of RevMan may be shared by Cochrane with the subscription holder.
3.15. Additional terms applicable to Core Roles:
If you have a Core Role:
3.15.1. You must complete an annual declaration of your interests in accordance with Cochrane’s applicable Conflict of Interest policies, otherwise your Core Role and associated access to the Cochrane Systems will be revoked; and
3.15.2. You must comply with all applicable Cochrane policies for Cochrane Groups and those with Core Roles.
4. Use of third-party systems
4.1. Cochrane uses third party vendors and hosting partners to provide the hardware, software, networking, storage and related technology required to run and maintain the Cochrane Systems.
4.2. Some third-party systems can be accessed via your Cochrane Account using a single sign-on process. Use of these third-party systems is subject to the third party’s terms and conditions. Failure to comply with those third-party terms and conditions when accessing the third-party systems through your Cochrane Account is a breach of these Terms.
5. Provision of Cochrane Account and Cochrane Systems
5.1. Cochrane makes your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems available to you on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis. Except as expressly provided in these Terms, Cochrane disclaims (to the extent permitted by law) any warranty, either express or implied, including without limitation, the implied warranties or merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.
5.2. Cochrane does not guarantee that use of your Cochrane Account or the Cochrane Systems will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free. Cochrane shall have no liability to you for any delays, delivery failures, or any other loss or damage resulting from the transfer of data over communications networks and facilities, including the internet, and you acknowledge that the Cochrane Systems may be subject to limitations, delays and other problems inherent in the use of such communications facilities.
5.3. Unless expressly stated otherwise, you assume sole responsibility for results obtained from using the Cochrane Systems and for any conclusions drawn from such use.
5.4. Cochrane will update or upgrade the Cochrane Systems at its sole discretion.
5.5. It may be necessary for Cochrane, acting reasonably, to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, any of the Cochrane Systems from time to time with or without notice. Cochrane is not liable to you or any third party for any adverse consequences of such modification, suspension or discontinuance. You will, wherever reasonably possible, be given advance notice of such actions.
5.6. Cochrane shall have no liability to you in respect of Content uploaded by you, other users and/or other third parties.
5.7. Cochrane represents and warrants that, to the best of its knowledge, having not made any enquiries and without any obligation or duty to do so, that it owns or has the necessary rights, including rights to the relevant intellectual property, to perform its obligations under these Terms.
5.8. Cochrane reserves the right at any time to withdraw from your Cochrane Account or the Cochrane Systems any item or part of an item for which it no longer retains the right to make available or publish, or which it has reasonable grounds to believe infringes intellectual property rights or is defamatory, obscene, unlawful or otherwise objectionable.
6. Intellectual Property
6.1. You acknowledge that:
6.1.1. all intellectual property rights in your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems and any metadata generated by your Cochrane Account or the Cochrane Systems in the course of processing requests and/or undertaking tasks on your instruction ("Metadata"), anywhere in the world, belong to Cochrane;
6.1.2. rights in your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems are licensed (not assigned) to you, and that you have no rights in, or to, your Cochrane Account or the Cochrane Systems or any Metadata other than the right to use them in accordance with the terms of these Terms; and
6.1.3. you have no right to access the Cochrane Systems in source code form.
6.2. You warrant that you have the necessary rights, licence, consents and/or permissions to or in any Content to enable you to upload, submit and/or publish it in, on or to the Cochrane Systems without infringing any third-party rights.
6.3. In respect of any Content, you grant Cochrane a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, distribute, translate and create derivative works from that Content to the extent necessary to enable Cochrane to make your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems available and to comply with its obligations under these Terms.
7. Liability
7.1. Cochrane shall not in any circumstances whatever be liable to you, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, arising under or in connection with these Terms for any indirect or consequential loss or damage.
7.2. Subject to clause 7.3, Cochrane’s maximum aggregate liability under or in connection with these Terms, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, shall in all circumstances be limited to:
7.2.1. a sum equal to 100% of the subscription fee for the current subscription period (where the relevant liability arises in connection with the provision of a Cochrane System for which a subscription fee is payable); or
7.2.2. £100.
7.3. Nothing in these Terms shall limit or exclude Cochrane’s liability for:
a) death or personal injury resulting from our negligence;
b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
c) any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law.
7.4. Cochrane is only liable for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of Cochrane’s breach of these Terms or Cochrane’s negligence. Loss or damage is foreseeable if it was an obvious consequence of the breach or if it was contemplated by you and Cochrane at the time you accepted these Terms.
7.5. Cochrane is not liable for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of its obligations under these Terms which are due to any act or event beyond Cochrane’s reasonable control, including without limitation failure of public or private telecommunications networks. If any such event affects Cochrane’s performance of its obligations under these Terms, Cochrane’s obligations will be suspended and the time for performance of Cochrane’s obligations will be extended for the duration of the event.
7.6. Except as expressly stated in these Terms, there are no conditions, warranties, representations or other terms, express or implied, that are binding on Cochrane in respect of the supply of the Cochrane Systems. Any condition, warranty, representation or other term concerning the supply of the Cochrane Systems which might otherwise be implied into, or incorporated in, this Licence whether by statute, common law or otherwise, is excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
7.7. You shall indemnify Cochrane against any losses, damages, costs (including legal fees) and expenses incurred or suffered by Cochrane in connection with:
a) your breach of any provision of these Terms;
b) any breach or alleged breach of any third-party rights, including but not limited to intellectual property rights, arising out of your use of your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems; and
c) any damage to a third party arising from your Content.
8. Term and Termination
8.1. These Terms shall take effect on your acceptance of them and continue in force until terminated in accordance with these Terms.
8.2. You may terminate these Terms at any time by contacting support@cochrane.org. If these Terms are terminated by you, your access to your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems will be revoked and you may receive an email confirming closure of your Cochrane Account.
8.3. If you fail to comply with these Terms, Cochrane may at any time terminate these Terms and revoke your access to your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems.
8.4. Cochrane may at any time revoke your access to your Cochrane Account and/or any of the Cochrane Systems if Cochrane is no longer making the Cochrane Account or the relevant Cochrane System(s) available.
8.5. Upon termination of these Terms all rights granted to you to use your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems will cease immediately and you will no longer be able to access your Cochrane Account or any of the Cochrane Systems.
8.6. If these Terms are terminated, you will not be entitled to a refund of any subscriptions fees unless such a refund is provided for in the relevant terms and conditions of subscription.
9. Communications
9.1. Any notices or communications sent by you to Cochrane under these Terms should be sent by email to support@cochrane.org.
9.2. Any notices or communications sent by Cochrane to you under these Terms will be sent by email to the primary email address associated with your Cochrane Account.
10. Data Protection and Privacy:
10.1. For the purposes of this clause, "Data Protection Legislation" shall mean all applicable laws, regulations and secondary legislation relating to the processing of personal data and the privacy of electronic communications, as amended, replaced or updated from time to time, including (but not limited to) the UK GDPR, the Data protection Act 2018 and the privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426). "Personal Data" shall be as defined in the Data Protection Legislation.
10.2. Both parties will comply with all applicable requirements of the Data Protection Legislation. This Clause 10 is in addition to, and does not relieve, remove or replace, a party's obligations or rights under the Data Protection Legislation. You must not upload or introduce any Personal Data into, or download or share any Personal Data from, your Cochrane Account or the Cochrane Systems unless you do so in compliance with the Data Protection Legislation. You shall indemnify Cochrane against any losses, damages, costs (including legal fees) and expenses incurred or suffered by Cochrane in connection with you breaching this clause.
10.3. Under the Data Protection Legislation, Cochrane is required to provide you with certain information about who Cochrane is, how Cochrane processes your personal data and for what purposes and those your rights in relation to such personal data and how to exercise them. This information is provided in Cochrane’s website privacy policy and (for anyone with a Group Role) in Cochrane’s privacy policy for groups.
10.4. As a Cochrane Account holder, your Personal Data will be visible to people with certain staff roles within Cochrane, such as editors and technology and support teams.
11. General
11.1. Cochrane may at any time sub-contract, assign, novate, charge or deal in any other manner with any or all of its rights and obligations under these Terms, provided it gives written notice to you. You may only transfer your rights or your obligations under these Terms with Cochrane’s prior written consent.
11.2. Cochrane may vary these Terms at any time. Any amendments will be notified to you in advance and the new terms will be made available on the Cochrane website. Amendments to these Terms will become effective when you use your Cochrane Account for the first time after having received notification of the changes. If you are unable to accept any amendments proposed by Cochrane, these Terms will terminate automatically and clause 8.5 will apply.
11.3. Unless expressly stated otherwise in these Terms, these Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Cochrane in respect of your use of your Cochrane Account and the Cochrane Systems and supersede and extinguish all previous agreements, promises, assurances, warranties, representations and understandings, whether written or oral, relating to such uses. You agree that you shall have no remedies in respect of any statement, representation, assurance or warranty (whether made innocently or negligently) that is not set out in these Terms, or any applicable terms referred to in these Terms. You agree that you shall have no claim for innocent or negligent misrepresentation or negligent misstatement based on any statement in these Terms.
11.4. If Cochrane fails to insist that you perform any of your obligations under these Terms, does not enforce its rights against you, or delays in doing either, that does not mean Cochrane has waived its rights against you and does not mean that you do not have to comply with those obligations. Any waiver of your obligations will only be valid if it is in writing and signed on behalf of Cochrane.
11.5. If any provision or part-provision of these Terms is or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable, it shall be deemed deleted, but that shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the rest of these Terms.
11.6. These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.
11.7. The courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims). However, if you are a consumer user, you will benefit from any mandatory provisions of the law of the country in which you are resident.