The editorial office of the Cochrane Anaesthesia Review Group maintains a specialized register
of controlled trials on ProCite software. Our
register (of over 26,000 trials) has now been submitted to CENTRAL. We are in
the process of updating it. Reports are identified by the search methods
described in 'Search strategies for the identification of studies'. The
register is available to members of the Group upon request.
To ensure that as many relevant studies as possible
are identified (and thereby also included in the group's specialized register),
authors are encouraged to conduct (and document) additional searches including:
searching other relevant bibliographic databases, reviewing reference lists and
personally contacting experts in the area.
Authors and their editors decide which study designs
should be included in their reviews. The editorial team can provide guidance if
non-randomized studies are the only source available for a specific clinical
question.
The group encourages co-authors (at least two) to
apply the inclusion criteria independently of each other for each potentially
relevant study. Any disagreements may be resolved by involvement of a third
person or the editorial team. Studies that, in the judgment of the authors, are
seriously compromised by weaknesses in design, conduct or analysis should be
excluded. Details of such studies are reported in the excluded studies table
within reviews.
Methodological quality is assessed through concealment
of allocation and blinding. Apart from this, the diversity of outcome measures
makes it very difficult to create standard criteria to assess the
methodological quality of studies included in reviews (overall protection
against bias). Reviewers may contact the editorial office for assistance.
Methodological quality is assessed for random allocation, concealment of
allocation, blinding, and handling of dropouts, but without using any quality
index. Authors
may contact the editorial office for assistance.
Data regarding inclusion criteria (types of studies,
participants/populations, interventions and outcomes), quality criteria and
results should be extracted independently by two authors, as indicated
previously. Other data can be extracted by one author and checked by another. When
data are missing in a published report, the authors should contact the author
of the report whenever possible. Authors should refer to the Cochrane
Reviewers' Handbook, or contact the editorial office for further details.
Authors should refer to the Cochrane Handbook for
Systematic Reviews of Interventions for specific guidelines, or contact the
editorial office for assistance.
Further information may be obtained by contacting the
editorial office or by consulting the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews
of Interventions or 'Tips for Reviewers'