Cochrane Library: what's new and release notes

Seeherefor user research acknowledgements

November 2024

CENTRAL update

We updateCENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)once a month. The October 2024 CENTRAL build finished onOctober 31st.CENTRAL was updated with over11k NEW recordsand over 6k records have been updated. Find out more abouthow CENTRAL is created.

Want tohelpidentifyrandomized controlled trials- why not get involved withCochrane Crowd.

October 2024

Browser language recognition

We're introducing an easier option to change the website and review language, if your browser is recognised as a language for which we have translated content. This aims to make navigating and reading content in your preferred language simpler, giving you quick access to valuable resources.

Dark mode for figures and forest plots

We've improved the way figures and forest plots display on mobile devices in dark mode to ensure that it is clearer to view and interpret visual content from Reviews and Clinical Answers.

Reference numbers and citations

We've added a hover-over to reference numbers meaning you can see the full citation just by hovering over the number. This gives you immediate access to detailed source information, demonstrating the usability and credibility of the content with no need to navigate away from the main text.

CENTRAL update

We updateCENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)once a month. The September 2024 CENTRAL build finished onSeptember30th.CENTRAL was updated with over15k NEW recordsand over 9k records have been updated. Find out more abouthow CENTRAL is created.

Want tohelpidentifyrandomized controlled trials- why not get involved withCochrane Crowd.

September 2024

CENTRAL update

We updateCENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)once a month. The August 2024 CENTRAL build finished onAugust31st.CENTRAL was updated with over11k NEW recordsand over 8k records have been updated. Find outhow CENTRAL is created.

Changes made to theCENTRAL creation page.More details available fromWhat's new on Search and CENTRAL.

Want tohelpidentifyrandomized controlled trials- why not get involved withCochrane Crowd.

August 2024

Request data reuse

Data associated with each Cochrane Review is available from the published article on the Cochrane Library. This can include study data, risk of bias data, analyses data and references.

To make it easier for you to request data for reuse, we’ve added a “Request data reuse” option in the “About this Review” section on each Review. You’ll find it right after the “Request permissions” option where you see this icon:Find out more.

Figure and Image Viewer training materials

To make the figures easier to understand, we’ve added a link to our freeCochrane Evidence Essentialstraining materials to the figure and image viewer. You can access it from the “Using systematic reviews” link on the blue bar. This resource is designed for both beginners and experts.

CENTRAL update

We updateCENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)once a month. The July 2024 CENTRAL build finished onJuly31st.CENTRAL was updated with over9k NEW recordsand over 16k records have been updated. Find outhow CENTRAL is created.

Want tohelpidentifyrandomized controlled trials- why not get involved withCochrane Crowd.

July 2024

Keep up with Cochrane content via RSS feed

It is now possible to subscribe to RSS feeds forCochrane Database of Systematic Reviewsand forCochrane Clinical Answers.

These provide a quick way to keep up with the latest publications from Cochrane Library, at the time of publication. The feeds contain: publication title, publication author(s), publication type, publication URL

RSS feeds can be viewed by adding the URL to an online RSS reader or to software programmes such as Outlook.

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviewshttps:// cochranelibrary /cdsr/table-of-contents/rss.xml

Cochrane Clinical Answershttps:// cochranelibrary /cca/about/rss.xml

PICO summaries now available on Cochrane Clinical Answers

Changes have been introduced toCochrane Clinical Answersto display Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome terms below the Answer. 

This gives an at-a-glance summary of Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome for the parent Review as annotated by Cochrane Community experts. With one click on a PICO term, users can see search results for Reviews with the same included PICOs. There is also prominent Help material giving clear guidance on using PICOs, linking to the relevant section of theCochrane Handbook.

See more on PICO on the Cochrane Library

CENTRAL update

We updateCENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)once a month. The June 2024 CENTRAL build finished onJune 30th.CENTRAL was updated with over19k NEW recordsand over 5k records have been updated. Find outhow CENTRAL is created.

Want tohelpidentifyrandomized controlled trials- why not get involved withCochrane Crowd

June 2024

CENTRAL update

We updateCENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)once a month. The May 2024 CENTRAL build finished onMay 31st.CENTRAL was updated with over9k NEW recordsand over 5k records have been updated. Find outhow CENTRAL is created.

Want tohelpidentifyrandomized controlled trials- why not get involved withCochrane Crowd.

May 2024

CENTRAL update

We updateCENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)once a month. The April 2024 CENTRAL build finished onApril 30th.CENTRAL was updated with over13k NEW recordsand over 7k records have been updated. Find outhow CENTRAL is created.

Want tohelpidentifyrandomized controlled trials- why not get involved withCochrane Crowd.

April 2024

CENTRAL update

We updateCENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)once a month. The March 2024 CENTRAL build finished onMarch 31st.CENTRAL was updated with over13k NEW recordsand over 15k records have been updated.

Browse by PICO is now available in Spanish on Biblioteca Cochrane

You can browse Cochrane content using themed groups of included PICOs from the Cochrane Library and Biblioteca Cochrane homepages.

Users can discover Cochrane content using themed groups of included PICOs curated and maintained by Cochrane experts. With one click, users can see all available search results for categories with included PICOs.

In addition, there is clear contextual help for those new to PICOs, with clear guidance on using PICOs and links to the relevant section of the Cochrane Handbook.

See it onBiblioteca Cochrane

Refreshed language selector experience

We’ve listened to your feedback and revamped our language selector to create a better multilingual experience. Now, exploring Cochrane Reviews in different languages is easier than ever!

What’s new?

• Clearer options: We’ve updated the language selection menu in the top navigation so that your language choices come with clear labels and icons.
• Simple access: You’ll see a simplified pop-up box, with a dropdown list of Review and website languages so you can easily see all available language options

March 2024

Improvements for users of Search manager

Over the first quarter of 2024, we made several improvements to helpInformation Specialists and LibrarianusingSearch managerto create and reliably run complex multi-line search strategies.

• In mid-January 2024, following user feedback, we made a change to the time-out limit on the Cochrane Library - increasing the limit from 100 to 300 seconds. We believe that 5 minutes will allowInformation Specialists and Librariansto reliably run all their complex multi-line search strategies inSearch manager.
• In mid-February 2024, we made several improvements to the performance of Search manager, focusing on improving the speed for executing individual search lines and reducing the overall time it takes to run multi-line searches.

Our expectation is thatInformation Specialists and Librarianswill see improvements in the performance of and reliability ofSearch manager.Specifically, complex searches should run faster and should resolve without timing out. Please continue to let us know if you have any questions or concerns using search on the Cochrane Library[email protected].

We updateCENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)once a month. The February 2024 CENTRAL build finished onFebruary 29th.CENTRAL was updated with over13k NEW recordsand over 4k records have been updated.

February 2024

The January 2024CENTRAL (Cochrane's database of trials)build finished on February 2nd. Every year we refresh all the CENTRAL records that come fromPubmed,Embaseandclinicaltrials.gov.Updating MeSH where appropriate and capturing other changes to the records. CENTRAL has been updated with over 17k NEW records and over 365k records have been UPDATED.

TheMeSH (Medical Subject Headings)browser feature in Cochrane Library has been updated withMeSH 2024.Users with saved searches in Cochrane Library that use MeSH should review the2024 MeSH Preferred Term Changes listand update their searches with the new prefered terms. A complete list of changes including newly added headings, is availableon the NLM website under 2024 changesor using thenew MeSH reporting service.

Cochrane Library release notes archive 2019-2023 can be found here.