Cochrane Renal Group

Developing a protocol

A protocol expands on the title to describe the review. As a rough guide, your protocol will need to address the following issues:

  1. The specific purpose (question to be answered) of the review
  2. The comparison groups (as the stated comparisons are central to each review, particular care should be taken with their development)
  3. The sources and search methods used to find evidence (primary studies)
  4. Explicit criteria for deciding which studies to include in the review
  5. Avoidance of bias in the selection of articles
  6. Reasons for excluding studies from the review
  7. Appropriate criteria for assessing the quality of the studies
  8. Appropriate methods (whether qualitative or quantitative) for combining the findings

For more information read the following document:
How to write a protocol - Word version or PDF version

When you have developed your protocol to your own satisfaction, it should be submitted to the Editorial Base. This means it will be entered into the Renal Group's referee process, en route to inclusion in the Cochrane Library.

Submission of the protocol is taken as your agreement to undertake a Renal Group systematic review. Therefore, you should only submit the protocol if this is your intention.

Headings of a Cochrane protocol

(Extract from Chapter 2 of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (formerly the Reviewers' Handbook) )

 
BACKGROUND
OBJECTIVES
CRITERIA FOR CONSIDERING STUDIES FOR THIS REVIEW
TYPES OF STUDIES
TYPES OF PARTICIPANTS
TYPES OF INTERVENTION(S)
TYPES OF OUTCOME MEASURES
SEARCH STRATEGY FOR IDENTIFICATION OF STUDIES
METHODS OF THE REVIEW
REFERENCES
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES


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New Reviews
Cochrane Library
Issue 2 April 2008


Immunosuppressive treatment for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in adults


Interventions for renal vasculitis in adults


16th Cochrane Colloquium
Freiburg, Germany
3-7 Oct 2008

 

Systematic Review Workshops

4-5 Dec 2008
Centre for Kidney Research
The Children's Hospital at Westmead
[Details]

Are you interested in writing a review?

Check our potential review titles or just contact us!

Help us with our Renal Trials Register

Do you have conference proceedings [books or cd-roms] that you no longer need or could lend to us for hadsearching? If so, email Ruth Mitchell for details

Handsearching

Are you interested in helping us handsearch journals or conference proceedings. To find out more about our handsearching activities, email Ruth Mitchell