Objective: The number of protocols that has been submitted to the Back Subgroup of the Cochrane Collaboration has exponentially increased over the past few years. There seems to be a large variety in inclusion criteria, literature searches, quality assessment methods and data extraction. For reviewers who want to submit a protocol as well as for editors who have to comment on these protocols, it might be helpful to have a standard set of criteria which these protocols should fulfill. The objectives of this study were to develop a set of obligatory recommendations which every systematic review of the Back Subgroup has to fulfill, and a set of optional recommendations which might be used in a systematic review of the Back Subgroup.

Methods: A survey was sent to the editors of the Back Subgroup of the Cochrane Collaboration, asking them to state which of the items that had been used in submitted protocols were obligatory and which items were considered to be optional. The items were classified into five categories: literature search, inclusion criteria, methodological quality, data extraction and data analysis. In May 1997, a workshop will be organised at an invitational conference for established researchers in the field of low back pain in primary care, in which the standardized protocol will be discussed. After the workshop, a consensus meeting of the Editorial Board of the Back Subgroup will take place in which the final version of the obligatory and optional protocols will be established.

Results: The results of the workshop and the consensus meeting in May will be presented at the Cochrane Colloquium.