Cochrane Collaboration

Now called ‘Cochrane’, this collaboration was founded in 1993 following Archie Cochrane’s advocacy for up-to-date, systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Its aim is to systematically organise medical research to support healthcare decision making (e.g. to adopt new interventions), according to the principles of evidence-based medicine. Cochrane uses standardised methods to undertake high quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses of RCTs, which can be updated in the future. All reviews are stored in the Cochrane Library. Cochrane has been instrumental in promoting and implementing good-quality research methods worldwide, with some countries also extending its principles to non-randomised study designs.