The task which the Cochrane Collaboration
has undertaken is enormous. It will be achieved as people of goodwill
offer their skills and time. Already several thousand people around
the world have become involved in one of the following ways:
Systematic reviewer:
If you have expertise in some aspect of healthcare, consider
joining the relevant Cochrane Collaborative Review Group. If
there is not yet a group which covers your specialty, register
your interest in being part of a new group. Being part of a
Cochrane review group provides the support, resources and training
to tackle a systematic review, and an international audience
when your work is published in The Cochrane Library.
To get involoved as a Systematic
Reviewer, choose the Review
Group that best matches your field of interest, then contact
the Review Group Coordinator.
Editor:
Each review group has an editorial team which provides support
for reviewers to ensure the highest quality in their work. Some
editors need content/topic expertise, others need methodological
expertise and an editor's eye for detail, consistency and good
expression.
To get involved as an Editor, contact
the Review Group coordinator at the Review
Group that best matches your area of interest/expertise.
Field member:
Fields are Cochrane groupings that focus on dimensions of health
care other than health problems, such as the setting of care
(e.g. primary care), the type of consumer (e.g. older people),
the type of provider (e.g. nurses) or the type of intervention
(e.g. physical therapies). People working in fields handsearch
specialist journals, help to ensure that priorities and perspectives
in their field of interest are reflected in the work of collaborative
review groups, compile specialist databases of reviews, coordinate
activities with relevant agencies outside the Collaboration,
and comment on systematic reviews relating to their particular
area.
To participate as a Field Member,
contact the Field Coordinator in the Field
that best matches your area of interest.
Consumer representative:
Every Cochrane review group aims to have members who will represent
the consumer's (ie, recipients of healthcare) viewpoint in deciding
which reviews are done, what questions they focus on, and how
the results are presented. The Cochrane Consumer Network coordinates
the involvement of consumers within the Collaboration.
To get involved as a consumer, please
read more about the various Cochrane
Consumer groups and contact a consumer coordinator.
Methodology 'expert':
If you have expertise in statistics or other methodological
aspects of systematic reviews, you can contribute through one
of the Cochrane Methods Groups. Such involvement can enhance
your own work through collaboration with an international team.
To get involved as a Methodology
expert, contact a coordinator at one of the Cochrane Method
Groups.
Handsearcher:
This involves the task of manually searching through medical
journals for accounts of controlled trials which are not yet
indexed in the major electronic databases like Medline and Embase.
Less than a third of the world's medical journals are routinely
indexed in the major electronic databases. Most review
groups and Centers are seeking
volunteer handsearchers and will provide the necessary training
and support. Handsearching of journals is coordinated by the
US Cochrane Center.
Translator:
The language of the Collaboration and of The Cochrane Library
is English, but reports of medical trials are often published
in other languages. The
Italian Cochrane Centre is coordinating the efforts of people
willing to translate reports of medical trials on behalf of
those preparing Cochrane reviews.
