In these videos, originally part of the Cochrane Learning Live webinar series, Julian Higgins and James Thomas – Senior Editors of Version 6 of the Cochrane Handbook – present the new Handbook, explain how it was developed and how it is organized online and in the printed version (to be published in 2019). They comment on the target audience of the Handbook and introduce the key sections and changes in relation to the previous Handbook version.

The webinar was delivered in January 2019. Below you will find videos from the webinar along with the accompanying slides to download [PDF].

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: General structure and opening sections

Part 3: Core quantitative topics (bias, statistics etc.)

Part 4: Specific perspectives on reviews and further topics

Part 5: Online-only materials and closing remarks including Q&A

Presenter bio:

Julian Higgins is Professor of Evidence Synthesis at the University of Bristol in the UK. His research interests span the range of methodologies relevant to systematic reviews, with a particular interest in meta-analysis, and his many influential publications have led him to be named a Highly Cited Researcher each year since 2015. Julian is a past President of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology and has been an active contributor to Cochrane since 1995. He is currently Senior Methods Advisor to the Editor-in-Chief at Cochrane, and sits on its Editorial Board and its Scientific Committee. He has co-edited the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions since 2003, and is also co-author of the Wiley 2009 textbook Introduction to Meta-analysis.

James Thomas is Professor of Social Research & Policy at the EPPI-Centre, UCL in London. His research covers substantive disciplinary fields – such as public health and education – and also computer and information science. He has written extensively on research synthesis, including methods for combining qualitative and quantitative research in reviews, and leads the Systematic Reviews Facility for the Department of Health, England. His activities in computer science include implementing novel technologies and processes (including machine learning and crowdsourcing) to improve the efficiency of systematic reviews; and leading development of EPPI-Reviewer, software which manages data through all stages of a systematic review.