Independent Organizations

Another source of research evidence is independent organizations such as the Cochrane Collaboration. Their number one goal is, “To produce high-quality, relevant, up-to-date systematic reviews and other synthesized research evidence to inform health decision making.”

Each Cochrane Review addresses a clearly formulated question, searches all the existing primary research on a topic that meets certain criteria; then assesses it using stringent guidelines, to establish whether or not there is conclusive evidence about a specific treatment. Cochrane Reviews are internationally recognized as the highest standard in evidence-based health care and reviews are published online in the Cochrane Library. Cochrane Reviews should be updated regularly to incorporate new research, so that treatment decisions can be based on the most up-to-date and reliable health evidence. Published Cochrane reviews and critical summaries of those reviews that have been published in journals indexed by PubMed can be found through searching PubMed. However, do not assume if it isn’t in PubMed it doesn’t exist – search the Cochrane website.