Create your PRISMA Flow diagram as a figure in RevMan and link to it in the main article.

Guidance

• Cochrane Handbook
  • Reporting the review
  • Searching for and selecting studies
• Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)
  • PRISMA Flow Diagram
  • PRISMA 2020 Checklist

Online learning

• Cochrane Interactive Learning: Module 3: Searching for studies

Your review or update must include an Overview of syntheses and included studies (OSIS) table. Example formats are available in the Tables section of the  Cochrane review template.

If your review contains a large number of included studies, a series of summary tables may be a better to display the information than a single OSIS table. Contact the Cochrane Support team to confirm if this applies to your review.

The information in your OSIS table must match the details of all included studies and analyses. Make sure you link to the table in the main article.

Guidance

• Cochrane Handbook
  • Reporting the review
  • Summarizing study characteristics and preparing for synthesis
• Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA): PRISMA 2020 Checklist

Online resource

• Overview of Synthesis and Included Studies table (OSIS) guide

Online learning

• Webinar: Developing an effective ‘Overview of included studies and syntheses’ table

Guidance

• Cochrane Handbook
  • Reporting the review
  • Interpreting results and drawing conclusions

Online resource

• Cochrane Methods: Selecting Studies and Assessing Methodological Limitations

Include up to 10 figures to support your results (up to 20 for network meta-analyses). Create the following figures in RevMan and link to them in the main article:

• Visual representation of syntheses for each outcome, such as forest plots
• Figures representing subgroup and sensitivity analyses that address the review’s objective and support its conclusions
• Others as appropriate, such as funnel plots.

Guidance

• Cochrane Handbook
  • Reporting the review
  • Analysing data and undertaking meta-analyses

Online learning

• Cochrane Interactive Learning Module 8: Reporting the review
• Online learning module: Synthesis Without Meta-analysis (SWiM) reporting guideline

Guidance

• Cochrane Handbook
  • Reporting the review
  • Completing ‘Summary of findings’ tables and grading the certainty of the evidence
• Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) PRISMA 2020 Checklist

Online learning

• Methods Support Unit web clinic
  • What makes a good Discussion section?
  • Summary of findings table common errors

Guidance

• Cochrane Handbook
  • Reporting the review
  • Interpreting results and drawing conclusions
• Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) PRISMA Checklist

Online learning

• Cochrane Interactive Learning Module 8: Reporting the review
• Methods Support Unit web clinic: Developing your implications for research section

The abstract is often the only part of a Cochrane review that people read. Abstracts are freely available on medical databases and the Cochrane Library. Cochrane also translates abstracts (and plain language summaries) into different languages to increase their global impact.

Follow the guidance in the Cochrane review template to ensure that your abstract is:

• clear: easy to understand
• accurate: supported by your results
• complete: question, methods, results, limitations
• consistent: based on the main article and introducing nothing new or different
• short: your abstract should be around 700 words (and no more than 1,000 words) so that it will display in full on PubMed after publication.

Guidance

• Cochrane Handbook: Reporting the review
• Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 Checklist
• Style Essentials: Key points from the Cochrane Style Manual for authors of Cochrane protocols and reviews

Online learning

• Cochrane Interactive Learning Module 8: Reporting the review
• Webinar: Writing a Cochrane abstract in the focused review format

Briefly summarise the key question and findings of the review (850 words maximum). Use simple terms for patients, carers and the public.

Guidance

• Cochrane Handbooks
  • Reporting the review
  • Guidance for writing a Cochrane Plain language summary
  • Diagnostic test accuracy reviews: writing a plain language summary
• Style Essentials: Key points from the Cochrane Style Manual for authors of Cochrane protocols and reviews

Online resource

• Published best practice plain language summary examples

Online learning

• Cochrane Interactive Learning Module 8: Reporting the review
• Webinar: Plain language for Cochrane reviews: how to ensure your readers find what they need and understand what they find

Figures

• Include up to 10 figures to support your results (up to 20 for network meta-analyses).
• If you include external figures, make sure that they meet our image resolution requirements.
• Add a caption for each figure that provides a brief description of the content.
• Captions for external, copyrighted images for which you have obtained permission must end with the following phrase: "Copyright © [Year] [Name of copyright holder, or other required wording]: reproduced with permission.”

Tables

• Your review or update must include an Overview of syntheses and included studies (OSIS) table.
• Add a title for each additional table that provides a brief description of the content.
• Tables should not exceed the maximum table size allowed in RevMan.
• Link to each table from the main article. Tables will be published below the paragraph where they are first linked in the text.

Supplementary materials include data and information that provide additional context or enhance your main findings. If your review uses Cochrane’s focused review format, your main article will be accompanied by a package of supplementary materials.

Supplementary materials are published alongside the main article in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The main article, plus the supplementary materials, plus other associated information, makes up a Cochrane review.

Most supplementary materials are automatically generated from information included in the Data section in RevMan. A summary of all supplementary materials is available in the ‘Submission preview’ in RevMan. For further information, see the RevMan Knowledge Base.

Different supplementary materials are subject to different levels of editorial scrutiny. For example, search strategies undergo full peer review; whereas the other supplementary materials will be reviewed by Cochrane and may or may not undergo full peer review, depending on the content.

Cochrane does not copyedit, typeset or proofread supplementary materials. Authors must ensure they are correct and accurate before submitting.

We do not screen supplementary materials in our similarity checks. Authors are therefore responsible for ensuring that quotation marks are correctly used to denote any text copied directly from study reports to include in Characteristics of studies tables and/or risk of bias tables.

Disclaimers on published content

Supplementary materials are supplied by the authors for publication under the associated Review’s Licence for Publication and authors are solely responsible for the materials. Cochrane accordingly gives no representations or warranties of any kind in relation to, and accepts no liability for any reliance on or use of, such material. The following disclaimers display in the text of the published review to clarify this for readers:

Disclaimer added to main Review article as a footer (after the References):
“The content of this article (as distinct from the content of the ‘Supplementary materials’, ‘Related’ and ‘About this Review’ sections) has been peer-reviewed and prepared for publication in accordance with Cochrane’s editorial policies. Though the aim of these processes is, among other things, to check the accuracy of such content, responsibility for the content remains that of the author(s) and Cochrane gives no representations or warranties of any kind in relation to, and accepts no liability for any reliance on or use of, the content of the article.”

Disclaimer added to the page that lists all supplementary materials in a published review:
“Supplementary materials are published alongside the article and contain additional data and information that support or enhance the article. Supplementary materials may not be subject to the same editorial scrutiny as the content of the article and Cochrane has not copyedited, typeset or proofread these materials. The material in these sections has been supplied by the author(s) for publication under a Licence for Publication and the author(s) are solely responsible for the material. Cochrane accordingly gives no representations or warranties of any kind in relation to, and accepts no liability for any reliance on or use of, such material.”

Disclaimer added to search strategy supplementary material only:
“The material in this section has been supplied by the author(s) for publication under a Licence for Publication and the author(s) are solely responsible for the material. Cochrane has peer reviewed this material in accordance with its editorial policies, but Cochrane has not copyedited, formatted or proofread. Cochrane accordingly gives no representations or warranties of any kind in relation to, and accepts no liability for any reliance on or use of, such material.

Disclaimer added to all other supplementary materials other than search strategy:
“The material in this section has been supplied by the author(s) for publication under a Licence for Publication and the author(s) are solely responsible for the material. Cochrane has reviewed this material, but Cochrane has not copyedited, formatted or proofread. Cochrane accordingly gives no representations or warranties of any kind in relation to, and accepts no liability for any reliance on or use of, such material.

If you have multiple, very large or complex supplementary materials, please consider using an open online repository.

External data and files

Currently, it is not possible to publish external data/files (data or text managed outside RevMan) alongside a Cochrane review in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. To allow readers access to external files or datasets:

• ensure that it is not possible to include the data/files within RevMan (for example, as ‘Other’ supplementary materials).
• store your data/files in an institutional or disciplinary repository or in a general repository, such as Figshare, Zenodo, or Dryad, with the following conditions:
  • the data or file(s) will have a digital object identifier (DOI) (or another type of permanent identifier) when included in the repository
  • the full citation for the review (including the Cochrane Review DOI) is included in each external file
  • copyright in the external file is attributed to the authors – “© The Authors”.
  • links/references to the external file(s) (including DOIs) are included within the Cochrane Review.

Please contact Cochrane Support for support with this process.

Cochrane does not typeset, copy edit or proofread documents and files stored externally. Authors are entirely responsible for their accuracy and presentation.