Minutes
of meeting of the
Cochrane
Collaboration Steering Group
Bergamo,
Italy
29
February, 1 and 2 March 2004
[These
minutes were approved by the Steering Group Executive on 23 March 2004]
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Advisory Group, Cochrane CENTRAL |
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[Advisory] Group, Cochrane Library Users’ |
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Advisory Group, Colloquium Policy |
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Advisory Group, Criticism Management |
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Advisory Group, Handbook |
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[Advisory] Group, Information Management System |
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Advisory Group, Quality |
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Archive, Cochrane Collaboration |
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Book series, proposal for collaboration on |
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Business Plans |
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Campbell Collaboration liaison |
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CENTRAL Advisory Group |
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CENTRAL, development of a new and improved |
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Centre Directors’ meeting, report from |
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Centres, Francophone Cochrane Initiative |
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Centres, guiding principles for staff |
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Centres, report from entity representatives |
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Centres, responsibilities of Directors and staff |
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Chief Executive Officer, report from |
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Cochrane CENTRAL Advisory Group |
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Cochrane Collaboration, collecting examples of
influence and output of |
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Cochrane Collaboration leaflet and brochure |
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Cochrane Consumer Network Incorporated (CCNI) |
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Cochrane Library, access for training purposes,
and to subscriber list |
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Cochrane Library, proposed process and timetable
for future development of |
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Cochrane Library Users’ Group |
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Cochrane reviews of diagnostic tests |
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Cochrane reviews, plagiarism within |
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Cochrane reviews, reprints of |
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Cochrane reviews, synopses of |
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Cochrane reviews, title registration system for
new |
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Colloquia, future |
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Colloquia, registration of entities |
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Collaborative Review Groups, report from entity
representatives |
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Collaboration Trading Company, issues raised by
Directors |
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Colloquium 2004, Ottawa |
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Colloquium 2005, Melbourne |
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Colloquium 2006, Dublin |
24.3 (i) |
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Colloquium 2007, Brazil |
24.3 (ii) |
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Colloquium 2008, Germany |
24.3 (iii) |
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Colloquium Policy Advisory Group |
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Comments and Criticisms system |
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Conflict of interest on corporate/commercial
sponsorship |
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Conflicts/declarations of interest by Steering
Group members of potential |
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Constitution (Memorandum and Articles of
Association) |
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Consumer Network |
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Contingency Fund expenditure and limit |
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Copy editing projects |
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Criticism Management Advisory Group |
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Cross-cultural team working within The Cochrane
Collaboration |
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Declarations of interests of Steering Group
members, Secretariat and IMS Director |
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Derivative products, Mental Health Library and
other |
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Derivative products, royalties on |
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Developing countries initiative |
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Diagnostic test accuracy, reviews of |
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Disclaimers |
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Discretionary Fund expenditure |
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Entity representatives, reports from |
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Fields/Networks, report from entity
representative |
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Finance, allocation of expenditure between
financial years |
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Finance, cash flow forecast and current financial
position |
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Finance, Contingency Fund expenditure and limit |
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Finance, Discretionary Fund expenditure |
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Finance, estimated expenditure for 2003-04 and
provisional budget for 2004-05 |
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Finance, registration of entities at Cochrane
Colloquia |
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Francophone Cochrane Initiative |
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Funders’ Forum |
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Handbook Advisory Group |
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Information Management System, changes in
terminology |
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Information Management System Group |
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Information Management System Group, funding for
[IMSG] advisory groups |
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Information Management System, specification for
RevMan 5 |
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Information Management System, status of the new |
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International Standardized Randomized Controlled
Trials Numbering scheme (ISRCTN) |
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Key dates in 2004 |
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MeerKat |
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Memorandum and Articles of Association (‘the
Constitution’) |
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Mental Health Library |
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Methods Groups, report from entity representative |
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Monitoring and Registration Group |
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Open learning resources |
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Plagiarism within Cochrane reviews |
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Publication Arbiter |
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Publishing Policy Group |
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Quality Advisory Group |
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Quality Improvement Manager’s report |
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Review title registration system |
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RevMan 5, specification for |
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Royalties on derivative products |
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Steering Group, future meetings (Ottawa,
Providence and Melbourne) |
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Steering Group, minutes of sub-group meetings |
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Steering Group, monitoring of |
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Steering Group, next Chair/Co-Chairs of |
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Steering Group, outstanding action items |
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Steering Group, report from Co-Chairs of |
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Synopses |
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Title registration system for reviews |
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Trading Company, issues raised by Directors |
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Transcultural sensitivities |
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Wiley |
Minutes of
Cochrane Collaboration
Steering Group meeting
[These minutes were approved by the Steering Group
Executive on 23 March 2004]
Present: Gerd
Antes, Kathie Clark, Mike Clarke (Co-Chair), Mark Davies, Jon Deeks, Davina
Ghersi, Sally Green, Steff Lewis, Jim Neilson (Co-Chair), Jordi Pardo, Silvana
Simi, Peter Tugwell, and Janet Wale.
In attendance: Vittorio
Demicheli (no longer on the CCSG, but attending to represent Fields), Kay
Dickersin (for item 9 only), Rachel Churchill (for item 13 only), Jini
Hetherington (minutes), Monica Kjeldstrøm (Information Management System
Director and representative of the Collaboration Trading Company Directors),
and Nick Royle (Chief Executive Officer).
Wiley representatives, Deborah Dixon, Deborah Pentesco-Gilbert, Rosie
Altoft, Julian Clayton and Andrew Cullis, were present for items 10, 11 and 13
only.
1. Welcomes, apologies for absence, introductions, and approval of
the agenda
Mike welcomed everyone to the meeting.
David Henderson-Smart would participate by telephone from Sydney, for
the item on commercial sponsorship (item 8) only. The Campbell Collaboration had been invited to send a
representative to this meeting but had not identified anyone to take up the
invitation.
2. Declarations
by Steering Group members of potential conflicts of interest
All members of the Steering Group and the Secretariat had recently submitted
Declaration of interest statements for publication in The Cochrane Library
and these are appended to these minutes. Those present were asked to declare
any additional interests of relevance to the meeting. Janet said she had recently attended two meetings that had been
funded by pharmaceutical companies. Jim
declared his competing interest as the Co-ordinating Editor of a CRG which had
recently had its funding cut substantially.
Monica said that there is potential conflict in the fact she is employed
by the Nordic Cochrane Centre to oversee the development of software within The
Cochrane Collaboration, in particular the development of the Cochrane Information
Management System (IMS). Decisions made
by the Steering Group about software development, therefore, may influence her
job. Some of the projects on which
Monica works are funded by the Collaboration; she is also a Director of the
Trading Company. It was noted that if
anyone wishes to amend their Declaration of interest statement at any time,
they should send such amendments to Jini to include in the Collaboration
module. It was agreed that the phrase
’declaration of interests’ is preferable to ‘conflicts of interest’.
3. Matters arising from minutes of previous
meeting, not on this agenda
3.18.2.5 - Open learning resources:
In following up on the request for the Handbook Advisory Group to
conduct a survey of open learning materials developed by Cochrane entities,
Sally reported that the Handbook Advisory Group has formed a sub-committee to
manage the Collaboration’s open learning material for reviewer training, and
has placed this survey on its action list but with a low priority assigned to it. Sally reported that a survey of entities is
planned for 6-12 months’ time.
4. Report from the Co-Chairs
Jim and Mike said that the
agenda for this meeting covered everything they would otherwise have raised.
5. Financial and
legal matters:
5.1 Cash flow forecast, and current financial
position: Monica agreed to send Nick revised figures for the costs of the
Information Management System (IMS), which would include annual running costs
of the IMS at the end of the development phase, to be added to the cash flow
forecast. Sally suggested, and it was
agreed, that it would be helpful if funds were shown separately in the cash
flow forecast for particular initiatives and for operating costs. Nick will e-mail a suitably revised cash
flow forecast to the Steering Group, for discussion by the Executive on 23
March 2004.
Action: Nick
5.2 Allocation
of expenditure between financial years:
It was agreed that committed and uncommitted funds should be shown
more clearly at the Annual General Meetings.
Having committed funds appear as a debt in the audited accounts might
achieve this. There was discussion
about the need to avoid the payment of grants to other legal entities incurring
institutional overheads, and it was agreed that grants should be paid in quarterly
or annual amounts, in advance or in arrears, whichever is most practical in
each circumstance.
5.3 Estimated expenditure for
2003-04 and provisional budget for 04-05:
Several items in the provisional budget for next year were
clarified.
5.4 Contingency and
Discretionary Fund expenditure:
5.4.1 Discretionary Fund: Mike reminded the Steering Group that
the Discretionary Fund limit had been raised in October 2003 to £15,000 per
year, with a £3000 limit to any one applicant, and that the year for these
purposes is 1 April to 31 March. Nick
explained that the recent applications to the Discretionary Fund from the South
African Cochrane Centre and the Pregnancy and Childbirth Group had been funded
from core expenditure instead, because they did not meet the Discretionary Fund
criteria but were judged to be appropriate for funding by The Cochrane
Collaboration, in particular because of the importance of developing country
activity in both. At Davina’s suggestion
it was agreed that a report-back requirement should be added to the criteria
for applying to the Discretionary Fund, in the Cochrane Manual.
Action: Jini
5.4.2 Contingency Fund limit: Jini reported that the money in the
Contingency Fund is invested in a sixty-day, high-interest rate deposit
account. Nick was asked to work with
Gerd, Kathie and Sally to produce a contingency plan which would include
recommendations for the appropriate size and purpose of the Collaboration
Contingency Fund for discussion at the next Steering Group meeting in
Ottawa. It was agreed that the plan
would need to be reviewed annually to ensure that it always reflects current
circumstances.
Action: Nick, Sally, Kathie, Gerd
5.5 Registration of entities at
Cochrane Colloquia: Kathie
confirmed that Jini had transferred Collaboration funds to the Ottawa
Colloquium organisers for 82 entity-sponsored registration fees. Kathie would shortly be advising entities of
the mechanism by which they should identify which individual in their entity is
to benefit from this sponsorship. Some
entities had said they did not need this sponsored registration and wanted to
donate it to another entity, but the mechanism for doing so had not yet been
worked out.
Action: Kathie
6.
Report from the Chief Executive Officer
Nick reported on the high quality of the support provided to the Collaboration
by the staff of the Secretariat. He
said he would be putting more time into identifying funding sources in the
coming months. He reported on progress
in pursuing funding from the European Union, via Dr Quintana, with whom he is
now in correspondence in regard to a possible funding call in June or July
2004. Such funding would not be limited
to EU members, so Cochrane entities based outside of the EU could be involved
in making any such application. Nick
agreed to liaise with European Cochrane entities who might be bidding for EU
funding to ensure that if more than one proposal is submitted, these would not
work against each other.
Action: Nick
6.1 Business Plans: Nick presented the revised version of the
draft business plan for the Collaboration and the draft template for a business
plan for Cochrane entities. He agreed
to send Steering Group members electronic versions of these, to enable them to
send their feedback and suggested amendments to him. It was noted that the draft business plan for the Collaboration
should contain some discussion of translation.
The use of ‘randomised controlled trials’ throughout the draft should be
broadened to include other types of studies.
The template business plan should be adapted to suit other entities (the current template is suitable for CRGs only). Nick was asked to include some
standard graphs such as the number of contributors, the size of the
Collaboration, and the number of Cochrane protocols and reviews. The Secretariat will maintain up-to-date
copies of these graphs. Nick said that
the cash amounts in the Collaboration’s business plan were estimates only, and
he was asked to remove these before circulating the draft to funders. However, it was noted that it would be
inappropriate to circulate the plan to some funders in draft form, and Nick
should liaise with the relevant Cochrane entities to ensure that it was not
sent to these funders. Mike said that
Miranda Mugford had recently sent her report on the cost of individual reviews
to Jim and himself, but that this was not yet ready for sharing with
funders. Nick explained the types of
commercial sources of sponsorship funding that could be acceptable to the
Collaboration, and said that he was investigating trans-national funding
sources. Jim said that he should draw
on collective expertise within the Steering Group in doing this.
Action: Nick, Everyone
6.2 Cochrane Consumer Network
Incorporated: Nick reported that
some progress has been made towards closing down the Cochrane Consumer Network
Incorporated (CCNI), but that the audit has taken much longer than
expected. Closure cannot be achieved
until this is complete. Negotiations
with Hilda Bastian about a Service Level Agreement are on hold until the audit
has been completed. Nick was asked to
expedite this matter.
Action: Nick
6.3 Future of the Funders’
Forum: It was agreed that
Jim should invite Dan Fox to the next Steering Group meeting to discuss this. Jim said that Nick would be giving the
highest priority from now on to co-ordinating the effort to increase funding
for the Collaboration. Kathie described
an all-day event that will be held during the Ottawa Colloquium for Canadian
policy makers and potential funders, with members of the Funders’ Forum, which
is being underwritten by Dan Fox. Sally
explained that in her own local circumstances it would be inappropriate for a
member of the Funders’ Forum to visit funders in her area without close liaison
with her as Director of the Australasian Cochrane Centre, and Gerd and Kathie
agreed that the same might be true for them in their area. Jim asked for ‘Funding initiatives’ to be a
standing item on future Executive agendas, and asked Nick to prepare a paper
for the next Executive meeting on 23 March on the funding strategy for the
Collaboration. It was suggested that
asking funders for support for discrete projects might be more successful than
seeking infrastructure funding, but Jim said that the latter was what the
Collaboration so badly needs. Jim
proposed a small ad hoc working group to work on this initiative with Nick, and
volunteered to participate, as did Mike, Gerd, Peter and Jon. It was agreed that Jim should invite Nandi
Siegfried to join this working group to provide a developing country
perspective.
Action: Gerd, Jim, Jon, Mike, Nick,
Peter
6.4 Disclaimers: Nick had obtained advice from the
Collaboration’s solicitors that the organisation’s various disclaimers
(including the disclaimers for the Collaboration’s software) might benefit from
being updated. He was asked to
circulate the full report from the solicitors to the Steering Group, and agreed
to work through the Publishing Policy Group to investigate what changes, if
any, will be necessary. Jini advised
that Steering Group members are covered by public liability insurance.
Action: Nick
7. Status
of the new Information Management System
7.1 Specification for RevMan
5: Monica explained that the
structure of RevMan 5, including the concept of having a ‘Summary of findings’
table (previously called a ‘balance sheet’) in RevMan, needed Steering Group
approval now, so that this could be built into the new IMS in time for the
proposed release of RevMan 5 in 2006.
She clarified that the relevant documentation, including the necessary
changes to the Cochrane Reviewers’ Handbook, would not be needed for another
year at least. It was agreed that it
was desirable to have functionality programmed into RevMan for creating a table
which summarises the results across outcomes, although concerns were expressed
that the example balance sheet included in the proposal required further
development. The further development of
possible summary tables needs to be undertaken in collaboration with the Statistical
Methods Group and others. Mike reported that most of the
proposed new structure for Cochrane reviews had been discussed extensively by
the RevMan Advisory Group and the Information Management System Group, but that
the recommendations from the Cochrane CENTRAL Advisory Group that references in
Cochrane reviews should include fields for the PubMed ID, language of
publication and author’s contact details had arrived too late for face to face
discussion. The Steering Group
discussed these items in depth and because of concerns about the likely high
workload for reviewers and editorial bases it was agreed that fields should not
be added for language of publication and authors’ contact details. It was also agreed that it should be made
possible, if considered desirable at some future point, to include links from
within synopses. The Steering Group
agreed the specification for RevMan 5 with the above changes.
Action: Mike, Monica
8.
Conflict of
interest on corporate sponsorship
Jim reported that the consultation had generated an
enormous amount of detailed and thoughtful comment from 156 individuals and
groups. The Steering Group considered
these in great detail, over the course of their two-and-a-half-day meeting, and
identified certain issues about which decisions could be made immediately, and
others about which it was difficult to reach firm conclusions at present. It was agreed that the policy document would
be prepared, and disseminated throughout The Cochrane Collaboration in about a
month's time.
Action: Jim
9.
Development of a new
and improved CENTRAL
Kay Dickersin attended the meeting for this item only. It was agreed that the aim should be for
CENTRAL to be as ‘clean’ as possible.
Kathie drew attention to the fact that it is now a core function of CRGs
that they keep specialised registers, and submit these to CENTRAL. Kay reported that, because this had not been
a requirement in the past, a small number of CRGs do not currently submit their
registers to CENTRAL. She proposed that
the first aim should be to produce a clean version of CENTRAL, feeding this
back to CRGs as a means of helping them to improve the quality of the content
in their registers. It was emphasised
that requests to CRGs should be phrased in a positive way, and offering them
help. Kay and Monica agreed that it was
important to co-ordinate this activity with the IMS to minimise duplication of
effort. The CCAG was asked to provide a
statement of what is now required to improve CENTRAL in the way suggested, with
resource implications. It was agreed
that a sub-group of the IMSG should be established to investigate software and
data entry aspects and that the CCAG should continue to provide advice. Kay, Mike and Monica would work on this but
it was noted that it would not be appropriate for Kay to convene the new
sub-group because of the potential conflict of interest in relation to the role
of the US Cochrane Center, which had requested to oversee the process. In closing this discussion, the CCSG noted
that it recognises the importance of CENTRAL, and of the specialised registers,
and that it wishes to work through the IMSG to facilitate the preparation of
high quality registers of controlled trials.
Action: Kay Dickersin, Mike, Monica
10.
Proposed process
and timetable for future development of The
Cochrane Library
The members of the Steering Group and
the staff of John Wiley and Sons introduced themselves to each other. The Wiley representatives at the meeting
were Deborah Dixon (Editorial Director), Deborah Pentesco-Gilbert (Managing
Editor), Rosie Altoft (Vice President, Web Publishing Systems), Julian Clayton
(Vice President, Training and Educational Systems), and Andrew Cullis
(Associate Director, Content Systems).
Deborah D gave a short PowerPoint presentation describing the progress
since the signing of the contract between The Cochrane Collaboration and John
Wiley and Sons, effective 1 March 2003.
She asked the Steering Group to agree on the process to be followed for
the transfer of The Cochrane Library to the Wiley InterScience site and
the retirement of the Update Software version.
There would be intensive internal Wiley testing against the list of
acceptance criteria; search and functionality would be assessed by a team of
four Cochrane Collaboration people; the testing of the new statistical analysis
package would be overseen by the