PROSPERO - New register for systematic reviews

A new prospective register for systematic reviews has recently been launched. The international database will be hosted by the Centre for Reviews and Disseminations at the University of York (www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/). PROSPERO is a free open-access facility that will allow researchers planning to conduct a systematic review to register their protocols. By providing information about reviews in progress it is hoped that there will be a reduction in unplanned duplication as well as greater sharing and collaboration worldwide.

The PROSPERO team, Cochrane Editorial Unit and Cochrane Information Management System team are working together to identify a way to upload information directly from Cochrane protocols, so individual Cochrane reviews should not be registered by their authors or Review Groups.

Changes to NHS Evidence Specialist Collections

From May this year NICE (NHS Evidence) will be launching a new specialist evidence service to replace the existing specialist collections. From May the specialist collection will no longer be available as dedicated websites but remain accessible via the redesigned NHS Evidence site. So if you have the Oral Health specialist collections as one of your bookmarks or favourites you will be redirected to the main NHS Evidence site after a short change-over period in May.

NHS Evidence will continue to identify significant new evidence and will disseminate this quality assured, significant new evidence via its monthly Eyes on Evidence bulletin. This will be a general update initially but later in the year a more personalised update service is promised.

UK Cochrane Centre seeks new Director

The UK Cochrane Centre is seeking a new full-time Director following Mike Clarke's decision to step down. Mike has been leading the UK centre since 2002.

The UK Cochrane Centre is part of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The Centre is the focal point for Cochrane Collaboration activity in the UK and a key link between the work of the Collaboration, the NIHR and the National Health Service. The Collaboration is the world's largest organisation dedicated to the production of independent systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions, with more than 28,000 active participants in over 100 countries and 4,500 full Cochrane reviews prepared to date. As part of the NIHR, the Centre works with UK-based Cochrane Review Groups and other Cochrane entities and with a range of stakeholders such as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

American Dental Association (ADA) launch mobile access to Evidence-based Dentistry website.

The ADA have launched a smartphone interface for access to three of their key evidence-based resources:

  • Database of oral health systematic reviews

  • Critical and plain language summaries

  • Clinical recommendations

The ADA have also announced that their ADA-EBD champions conference will be held at their headquarters in Chicago between the 28th -30th July; see http://www.ada.org/5094.aspx for details.