Minutes of meeting of the
Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group
[These minutes were approved by the Steering Group
Executive on 22 November 2004]
Subject
|
Item
|
|
Advisory
Group budgets |
|
|
Advisory
Group, Cochrane CENTRAL |
|
|
[Advisory] Group, Cochrane
Library Users’ |
|
|
Advisory Group, Colloquium
Policy |
|
|
Advisory Group, Criticism
Management |
|
|
Advisory Group, Handbook |
|
|
[Advisory] Group,
Information Management System |
|
|
Advisory Group, Quality |
|
|
Advisory groups, future
Steering Group membership of |
|
|
Advisory groups,
reimbursement of convenors and members |
|
|
Annual General Meetings,
agenda and format of the |
|
|
BMJ/Clinical Evidence,
relationship with |
|
|
Book series, agreement on |
|
|
Campbell Collaboration,
liaison |
|
|
Centres, commercial
sponsorship of |
|
|
Centres, report from entity
representatives |
|
|
Centres, revision of
section in The Cochrane Manual |
|
|
Chief Executive Officer,
position of the |
|
|
Chief Executive Officer,
report from the |
|
|
Chris Silagy Prize,
commitment to the |
|
|
Clinical trials,
prospective registration of |
|
|
Cochrane [Exchange]
Fellowship, revised name and timetable for |
|
|
Cochrane Library,
complimentary copies of The |
|
|
Cochrane Manual, revision
of section on Centres |
|
|
Cochrane Reviews, creation
of umbrella (summary) reviews |
|
|
Cochrane Reviews of
diagnostic test accuracy |
|
|
Cochrane Reviews,
plagiarism within |
|
|
Cochrane Reviews,
prioritisation of key topic |
|
|
Collaborative Review
Groups, guiding principles for |
|
|
Collaborative Review
Groups, report from entity representatives |
|
|
Colloquia, filming of
sessions |
|
|
Colloquium Manager,
proposal for development of |
|
|
Colloquium, Dublin, 2006 |
|
|
Colloquium, Melbourne, 2005 |
|
|
Colloquium, São Paulo, 2007 |
|
|
Commercial sponsorship,
Cochrane Collaboration policy on |
|
|
Commercial sponsorship,
ambiguities in the policy |
|
|
Commercial sponsorship,
position of Centres |
|
|
Company Secretary, job
description of |
|
|
CONSORT Statement,
endorsement of the |
|
|
Consumer Network |
|
|
Contact Database, suggested
amendment to terms of use of |
|
|
Contingency Fund
expenditure |
|
|
Contingency plan |
|
|
Declarations of interest by
everyone involved in the review process |
|
|
Declarations of interest by
Steering Group members, |
|
|
Derivative products,
commercial sponsorship of |
|
|
Developing countries
initiative |
|
|
Diagnostic Test Accuracy
Working Group |
|
|
Discretionary Fund
expenditure |
|
|
Donations, central fund or
foundation for receiving unrestricted |
|
|
Editors, gender balance of |
|
|
Elections, information on
candidates |
|
|
Entity representatives,
verbal reports from |
|
|
[Exchange] Fellowship,
revised name and timetable for |
|
|
Fields/Networks, report
from entity representatives |
|
|
Finance, advisory group
budgets |
|
|
Finance, allocation of
expenditure between financial years |
|
|
Finance, cash flow forecast
and current financial position |
|
|
Finance,
Contingency and Discretionary Fund expenditure |
|
|
Finance, recommendations
about the size and purpose of the Contingency Fund |
|
|
Finance, reimbursement of
sub- and advisory group convenors and members |
|
|
Funders’ Forum, report from |
|
|
Funding Arbiter, report
from |
|
|
Funding working group |
|
|
Funding, European Union |
|
|
Funding, foundation |
|
|
Funding, monthly newsletter
from Chief Executive Officer |
|
|
Global review of access to
healthcare information |
|
|
Guidelines International
Network, relationship with |
|
|
Information Management
System, status of |
|
|
Information Management
System, name for new server |
|
|
James Lind Alliance,
relationship with the |
|
|
Job description, Co-Chair
of the Steering Group |
|
|
Job description, Company
Secretary |
|
|
Job description, Funding
Arbiter |
|
|
Job description, Ombudsmen |
|
|
Job description,
Publication Arbiter |
|
|
Job description, Steering
Group members |
|
|
Kenneth Warren Prize 2004 |
|
|
Mazars LLP, acceptance of |
|
|
MeerKat, support and
development of |
|
|
Methodological quality
improvement projects |
|
|
Methods Groups, report from
entity representative |
|
|
Mid-year meeting of
Steering Group in Thailand in 2006 |
|
|
Monitoring and Registration
Group, report from the |
|
|
Monitoring, frequency of |
|
|
Non-randomised studies and
specialised registers |
|
|
Ombudsmen, report from the |
|
|
Priority setting for the
next four years |
|
|
Prospective registration of
clinical trials |
|
|
Publication Arbiter |
|
|
Quality improvement
projects, methodological |
|
|
Risk assessment, table of |
|
|
Specialised registers,
non-randomised studies and |
|
|
Steering Group elections,
information on candidates |
|
|
Steering Group members,
verbal reports from outgoing |
|
|
Steering Group membership
of sub- and advisory groups, proposed |
|
|
Steering Group mid-year
meetings |
|
|
Steering Group, monitoring
the |
|
|
Steering Group, next five
meetings of the |
|
|
Steering Group, procedure
for selecting a Chair of |
|
|
Strategic Plan in relation
to the Information Management System |
|
|
Treasurer, report and
financial statements |
|
|
Trading Company Directors,
issues raised by the |
|
|
Visiting Fellowship
(formerly called ‘Exchange’ Fellowship) |
|
|
Website development project |
|
|
Wiley, report from |
Minutes of the meeting of the
Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group
Ottawa, Canada
1 and 4 October 2004
[These minutes were approved by the Steering Group
Executive on 22 November 2004.]
Present (Steering Group members shown in bold typeface): Godwin Aja, Claire Allen, Gerd
Antes (on 1 October only), Lorne Becker (on 4 October only), Lisa
Bero, Kathie Clark, Mike Clarke (on 1 October only; Chair on
1 October, but absent for item 11 on methodological quality improvement
projects), Mark Davies, Jon Deeks, Kay Dickersin (only for item
22.12 on the Publication Arbiter’s report on 4 October), Deborah Dixon (for
item 10 only), Zbys Fedorowicz, Dan Fox (only for item 22.14 on the
Funders’ Forum on 1 October), Davina Ghersi, Sally Green,
David Henderson-Smart (on 1 October, and only for item 22.12 on the
Publication Arbiter’s report on 4 October), Jini Hetherington (minutes), Louise
Kitchener (until noon on 1 October), Monica Kjeldstrøm, Carol Lefebvre (only
for item 10, the report from Wiley representatives regarding search testing the
Wiley InterScience site, on 1 October), Steff Lewis, Jim Neilson
(Chair on 4 October), Jordi Pardo, Deborah Pentesco-Gilbert (for item 10
only), Nick Royle (absent from discussion about renewal of the CEO’s contract –
item 6), Rob Scholten, Silvana Simi (on 1 October only), Haluk
Soydan (on 4 October only), Peter Tugwell, Janet Wale and Liz
Waters.
1.
Welcomes,
apologies for absence, introductions, and approval of the agenda
Mike welcomed everyone to the
meeting, and introduced the incoming members of the Steering Group, Godwin Aja
(representing the Consumer Network), Lisa Bero (representing Centres), Zbys
Fedorowicz (representing CRGs), Rob Scholten (representing Centres) and Liz
Waters (representing Fields). Mike
explained that Lorne Becker, sharing the position of Field Representative with
Liz Waters, would join the second Steering Group meeting on 4 October. For the benefit of the incoming members,
Mike explained that Steering Group meetings during Colloquia are a day shorter
than the mid-year meetings, due to time constraints. The agenda was approved.
2.
Declarations of
interest of Steering Group members, IMS Director, and Secretariat staff
2.1 Current declarations: Mike invited people to mention any changes
to their current declarations of interest, which had been included with the
agenda for this meeting, and would form an appendix to these minutes; there
were no changes. It was agreed that
guidance as to what should be disclosed in such declarations would be helpful,
as would a standard format. Lisa
volunteered to provide a template for discussion at the next Steering Group
meeting in Providence in April 2005.
Action: Lisa
2.2 Should everyone involved in the
review process (including editors and referees) make declarations of interest
in Cochrane reviews? It was pointed out that potential conflicts of
interest of editors should be declared in the CRG modules published in The
Cochrane Library, and the CRG representatives were asked to remind their
constituents of this. It was suggested
that referees should also be encouraged to declare their potential conflicts of
interest to their CRG(s). It was not
thought to be necessary to declare these conflicts within individual reviews.
Action: CRG representatives
3. Matters arising from the minutes of the
previous meeting
Mike reminded everyone that the
minutes of the mid-year Steering Group meeting in Bergamo had been approved by
the Executive in a teleconference in March 2004. The following matters arising
from those minutes were discussed:
Item 5.2 - Allocation of expenditure between financial years: Nick reminded everyone that the default
policy is that the Collaboration does not pay institutional overheads on grants
to other legal entities. In cases where
a contribution to indirect overheads is requested and refusal to pay these
costs would impact negatively on the Collaboration's ability to function
effectively, each case should be referred to the Steering Group for
consideration by its Executive, which would make a recommendation. A statement to this effect is contained in
The Cochrane Manual.
Item 18 – Proposal for MeerKat support and development: Nick reported that the MeerKat Working Group
has continued to work on a revised budget since the Steering Group meeting in
Bergamo, after discussions with the Information Management System Group. The revised budget has not yet been formally
presented to the Steering Group, and Nick agreed to follow this up so that it
can be brought to a future Executive teleconference for approval.
Action: Nick
Item 21.1 – Plagiarism within Cochrane reviews: Mike explained that preparation of a policy
document on plagiarism was still in progress.
Sally asked that the editors of the Cochrane Reviewers’ Handbook (Phil
Alderson, Julian Higgins and herself) be sent an early draft of this to comment
on, since the policy will eventually be included in the Handbook.
Action: Mike
Item 21.4.2.2 - Guiding principles for CRGs: Peter and Davina said they were still in the process of preparing
a similar document to ‘Guiding principles for Centre Directors and Centre
staff’ for CRGs, and would report to the Steering Group at its next meeting in
Providence in April 2005.
Action: Peter, Davina
4.
Report from the
Co-Chairs
Neither Jim nor Mike had anything to
report that had not been included on the agenda of this meeting.
5.
Report from the
Chief Executive Officer
5.1 Book series: Nick reported that
negotiations for a book series had been concluded, and an agreement had
recently been signed between The Cochrane Collaboration and Wiley. (See also item 18 below.)
5.2 Prospective registration of clinical
trials: Nick said that he would be meeting in New York with people
interested in this initiative at the end of October 2004, and would report back
to the Steering Group by e-mail.
Action: Nick
5.3 Global review of access to healthcare
information: Nick reported that the Collaboration is a
core participant in this project looking at access to healthcare information in
developing countries, and will be preparing the section on access to systematic
reviews. The project is being conducted
under the auspices of INASP and WHO, and Paul Chinnock of the Injuries Group is
taking the lead on behalf of the Collaboration. It is expected that there will be a final report to the Steering
Group during the Melbourne Colloquium in October 2005, although doubts have
arisen recently about the stability of INASP’s funding for the project.
5.4 Funding newsletter: Nick invited
feedback on the usefulness of his monthly funding newsletter.
5.5 Funding working group: This group
(comprising Gerd, Jim, Jon, Kathie [who replaced Mike], Mark, Nick and Nandi)
has met once by teleconference and is in the process of establishing its remit
and an action plan.
5.6 Commercial sponsorship: Nick is in
discussions with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)
about funding initiatives within the context of the Collaboration's policy on
commercial sponsorship.
5.7 European Union funding: The
Collaboration’s work does not fit into the EU’s current call for applications
for funding, but Nick reported that he was hopeful that a future call would be
more relevant.
5.8 Foundation funding: Nick hopes
to work on this area in the next few months.
5.9 Consumer Network issues: Nick
reported that the lengthy dispute had recently been resolved, and that the
Cochrane Collaboration Consumer Network Incorporated (CCCNI) is in the process
of being dissolved. Signed agreements
by the parties in the dispute are now in place. He thanked Janet in particular for her part in reaching a
resolution, and Sally and Janet both thanked him for all he had done to this
end. Sally reported that all the
documents of the CCCNI are archived at the Australasian Cochrane Centre. Kathie drew attention to the fact that any
change of legal status or governance (e.g. registering as a company or charity)
requires approval of the Monitoring and Registration Group. It was agreed that entities will be
discouraged in future from setting themselves up as separate legal entities.
6.
Report on
progress against objectives set at the Steering Group meeting in Melbourne in
March 2003, and priority setting for period 2005-06 to 2007-08
6.1 Progress
and priority setting for the next four years:
Nick was asked to develop this
draft document further for discussion at the next Steering Group meeting in
Providence. It was agreed that the
priority of developing consumer synopses for those reviews without a synopsis
should be reworded to include improving the quality of existing synopses. Janet agreed to bring recommendations from
the group working on synopses to the next Steering Group meeting in
Providence. Jon was asked to discuss
with methodologists their role in taking the lead in liaising with CRGs. Liz requested that Fields be more involved
in discussions about priorities in future.
It was agreed that the Collaboration’s Strategic Plan should be
discussed in detail at the next Steering Group meeting in Providence.
Action: Nick, Janet, Jon
6.2 Position of the Chief
Executive Officer: Nick’s two-year
contract as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ends on 31 March 2005. He left the meeting for the discussion about
whether or not to maintain this post.
It was agreed that the Collaboration needs to continue employing a
CEO. Nick’s annual performance
appraisal should be conducted in the next month by a panel comprised of Jim and
Kathie (the Co-Chairs) and Jordi (who has the perspective of members of The
Cochrane Collaboration based in countries whose first language is not English). This panel will make a recommendation to the
Steering Group about renewal of Nick’s contract, and also about the optimum
length of the contract. The Co-Chairs
will ask Steering Group members for questions that should be asked as part of
Nick’s appraisal, and share these with Nick in advance.
Action: Jim, Kathie, Jordi
7. Report from the Treasurer - financial and legal
matters:
7.1 Report and Financial Statements: Jini
was asked to e-mail this year’s table of risk assessment to the Steering Group
for information.
Action: Jini
7.2 Acceptance of Mazars LLP (formerly
called Mazars): It was agreed that, if approved at the AGM,
the Collaboration would continue to accept Mazars LLP as its auditors, and Jini
would communicate this to the company.
Action: Jini
7.3 Issues raised by the Trading Company
Directors: Monica reported that according to the table of key
dates the Trading Company Directors and the Company Secretary had fulfilled all
their responsibilities so far this year.
The Directors had requested that information on the income from sales of
reprints and subscriptions to pharmaceutical companies should be declared by
Wiley in their quarterly breakdowns of royalty figures, and recommended that
the Steering Group should also review these figures on a regular basis. Jos Kleijnen is resigning from the board of
directors of the Trading Company at this year’s Annual General Meeting, and is
being replaced as Chair by Mike Clarke when Mike steps down from the Steering
Group on 3 October 2004. Monica
explained to new Steering Group members that the Collaboration holds 100% of
the shares of the Trading Company, and that the Trading Company passes all
surplus income to The Cochrane Collaboration.
Action: Nick
7.4 Cash flow forecast, and current financial
position: Nick presented the cash flow forecast and there was
discussion about the continuation of some of the current initiatives. This will be formally reviewed at the next
Steering Group meeting in Providence in 2005. The Chris Silagy Prize should be added to the cash flow
forecast as an ongoing commitment. Nick
clarified that the projected income figures on the cash flow forecast are based
on a ‘worst case’ scenario.
Action: Nick
7.5 Advisory Group budgets: Mike
drew attention to the document with the agenda materials which listed the
advisory group budgets that had been approved at the Steering Group meeting in
Bergamo in February/March 2004.
7.6 Contingency and Discretionary Fund
expenditure: Attention was drawn to the fact that only one
application had been made for Discretionary Fund support during the current
financial year. Entity representatives
should bring this opportunity to apply for resources to the attention of their
constituents.
Action: All entity representatives
7.7 Recommendations
regarding the size and purpose of the core Contingency Fund and related
contingency plan: It was agreed that one of the actions in the
contingency plan drafted by Nick should be the initiation of legal proceedings
if the loss of royalties is due to breach of contract, and an estimate of these
costs should be added to the proposed Contingency Fund of £150,000. Monica was asked to work out how much it
would cost to support the IMS team for twelve months, and to send that figure
to Nick, so that the Steering Group can come to a decision at a later date if
necessary about whether or not to include that figure in the Contingency
Fund. It was agreed that new IMS
developments would be put on hold should the Collaboration’s core income
collapse, and the contingency plan need to be activated. Nick was asked to e-mail a revised
contingency plan to the Steering Group, taking account of the agreed changes.
Action: Monica, Nick
7.8 Reimbursement to sub- and advisory
group convenors and members: Mike and Sally declared their conflict of interest as
advisory group convenors. There was
agreement that reimbursing advisory group convenors for their work as convenors
was not appropriate. It was agreed that
if there is a specific substantive project that needs to be done by an advisory
group to the Steering Group, the Executive should be asked for approval of
funding on a case-by-case basis.
7.9 Kenneth Warren Prize 2004: Mike
explained that this will be a standing item on Steering Group agendas in
future, to inform them of the current state of this restricted fund, which
currently amounts to approximately £22,700.
8. Information Management System
8.1 Status of the new IMS: Monica
reported that good progress was being made on the development of the new IMS,
as outlined in her report. The Cochrane
Collaboration has funded a system developer to work full-time on the new IMS on
a temporary contract. To ensure
continuity and maintain the developer expertise that exists within the IMS
team, Monica requested funding to retain this person on staff on a long-term
basis. This was agreed to in principle,
and Monica was asked to provide details and a budget for discussion by the Steering
Group at its next meeting in Providence, within the context of the current IMS
budget. Monica’s report should describe
this person’s particular skills and how ongoing IMS work contributes to the
Collaboration’s Strategic Plan. She
confirmed that the four CRGs pilot-testing the IMS are globally distri