The editorial process of the Cochrane Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders (CMED) group involves several stages:
- Title
Anyone who would like to do a review within the scope of the CMED group is invited to log in to Editorial Manager and express their interest in conducting a Cochrane Review. For further information see our instructions for authors on submitting new proposals. If the CMED group considers the initial proposal to be eligible for a Cochrane Review, review authors will be invited to submit a full review proposal via an online form within 'Editorial Manager'. The proposed title will be circulated within the wider Cochrane to identify common interests and overlaps. Review authors will have to provide information of possible conflicts of interest using 'Convey', a service run by the Association of the Medical Colleges. - Protocol
Once the title has been accepted, review authors are encouraged to attend a workshop on protocol development, if they have not already done so. Review authors will receive a standard protocol template. Protocol drafts must be submitted via 'Editorial Manager' for editorial approval, after careful proof-reading and consideration of the embedded protocol submission form. The submitted protocol undergoes a refereeing process. Every effort will be made to complete the refereeing process as quickly as possible. Once the protocol draft appears acceptable the CMED group's Information Specialist (CIS) will negotiate the establishment of appropriate search strategies with review authors. The Managing Editor will then provide the collated comments received and ask the review authors to make appropriate changes to the protocol. Once the comments have been satisfactorily addressed, the final protocol will be proof-read, copy-edited (in consultation with the review authors), approved by the Co-ordinating Editor and submitted for inclusion in the Cochrane Library to the publisher. Review authors will have to submit a signed licence for publication form and, if necessary, an updated conflict of interest form before publication.
Note: there is a maximum of two attempts for protocol submission to adequately address all editorial comments. Otherwise, the protocol might be rejected or transferred to another review author team.
- Review
Once the protocol has been accepted, the review authors will receive a standard review template and proceed with preparing the final review. The CIS will send search results for databases available at the editorial office to review authors and establish a continuous email alert service using the original search strategy for MEDLINE. The final review draft must be submitted via 'Editorial Manager' for editorial approval and will undergo a refereeing process. Once comments have been satisfactorily addressed, the final review will be proof-read, copy-edited (in consultation with the review authors), approved by the Co-ordinating Editor and submitted for inclusion in the Cochrane Library to the publisher. Review authors will have to submit a signed up-to-date licence for publication and, if necessary, update their conflict of interest form.
Note: there is a maximum of two attempts to adequately address all editorial comments per phase, including careful consideration of the embedded review submission form. Otherwise, the review might be rejected or transferred to another review author team. - Review update
The CMED group utilises a priority system for all reviews published within its scope in the Cochrane Library. For top priority reviews the CMED group will actively scan the literature after publication of the review to identify new publications providing information about patient-important outcomes, long-term trials and novel adverse events. In this case review authors will be contacted and should proceed to update their review as soon as possible. If the Editorial Base recognises that a priority review has become significantly out-of-date and the responsible review authors do not take appropriate action, the CMED group may consider to either transfer responsibility for the review to a third party or to withdraw the review from the Cochrane Library. In all other cases review authors must contact the CMED group to discuss relevant changes to the scope of their review (such as amending eligibility criteria, search methods, risk of bias and analysis) before embarking on a review update. Review authors will then have to discuss with the CMED group if a non-priority review update will be feasible because of priority settings and most likely very limited support from the CMED group. Review authors will be responsible for scanning the medical literature to identify any newly published trials within the scope of their review and to update their review according to the newest CMED group's standards.