Background: A systematic review/Cochrane review course was developed and introduced as part of the course program for the Master s of Science Degree in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto in 1999. The course objectives are How to systematically review the effectiveness of an intervention based on randomized controlled trials and if appropriate summarize the evidence using statistical methods . The course runs for 12-13 weeks with one interactive group meeting (3 hours) per week. The tutors include a clinical epidemiologist, a librarian, a statistician and staff from Cochrane entities in Canada. The students are encouraged to have a title registered prior to enrolling in the course. They present a protocol midterm and a full review at the end of the course. They get verbal and written feedback on three 4 occasions before the final mark is assigned 2 months after the classes have finished.

Objective: To assess the output (published Cochrane protocols/full reviews and reviews in peer-reviewed journals from the first four courses (1999 2002).

Methods: Issue 1, 2004 of The Cochrane Library and PubMed were searched by name of each student and his/her course related topic in February 2004 for protocols and full reviews. Students were also encouraged to provide follow-up on fate of their reviews. Issue 1 2004 of the Cochrane Library was searched for additional Cochrane protocols/full reviews by the student.

Results: During the four years 53 students completed the course. Thirty students (57%) published at least one protocol or full review. Twenty-one students published a full Cochrane review or peer reviewed systematic review as the primary author. To date the total number of published full reviews is 25. One review has been updated. The students have published an additional 15 Cochrane protocols, 9 reviews and three students have been involved in practice guideline development. One student has published a systematic review based on animal data. Two students have won research prizes for their reviews. The feedback from the students has been very positive. They appreciate to be able to publish a systematic review. They would like to see more teaching of statistics (9 hours at the present time). They believe it is too much work in a short time period to produce a full review.

Conclusions: A systematic review course within a Master s of Science Program is effective in producing systematic reviews published in The Cochrane Library and /or in peer-reviewed journals. Students continue to be involved in systematic reviews/Cochrane reviews and guideline development after completing the course.