The Cochrane Library

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Description

Focusing on high quality evidence to support health care providers in their clinical decision making, the Cochrane Library includes 6 databases which may be searched as a group or individually. The primary resource, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, includes more than 4,650 reviews and 2,015 protocols which have been prepared by a highly credentialed group to determine if an intervention for a specific disease or other problem is effective. The reviews include a summary of research results from random controlled trials, the group's meta-analysis, links to references, and MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) indexing, The other databases include Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, a database of quality assessments and review summaries not conducted by Cochrane, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the world's largest directory of random controlled trials with journal article citations in the entries, Cochrane Methodology Register, a bibliography of books and journal articles where researchers have reported on the methods used in random clinical trials, Health Technology Assessment Database, a collection of assessment studies of medical, social, ethical, and economic implications of healthcare interventions, and the NHS Economic Evaluation Database, which identifies information about cost-effectiveness of interventions.

Help

Help is available from within the database using the Help button in the upper right corner of the search screen.

A Search Manual is available as well as a Reference Guide [PDF]. Three tutorials, The Cochrane Library: An Introduction, Advanced and MeSH searching, and Saved Searches and Setting Up Alerts are offered by the content provider to introduce new users to the searching process.

For help using these indexes see: How do I find an article on my topic?

User tools and features

MeSH searching, saved searches, alerts.

Dates covered

2002+.

Updating frequency

When new evidence is available, reviews are updated. Content is added to the database quarterly.

Sources

More than 2,000 healthcare journals.