Background: Cochrane Editors often have a dual role of Editor and author. Because this may be viewed as a potential conflict of interest, Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs) may have policies in place to prevent the Editor being involved in the editorial process in this situation. The number of Cochrane Reviews in which Editors are also authors has not been evaluated, and there has been no study of Cochrane Review Groups' editorial policies on this issue.
Objectives: To calculate the number of reviews where Cochrane Editors are also authors, and to survey Cochrane Review Groups' policies on this issue.
Methods: Using a combination of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Archie, we will calculate the number of reviews where an Editor is also an author and present this as a percentage of the number of reviews published by each CRG. We will also survey the CRGs to see if they have clearly stated policies on the involvement of Editors in the editorial process for reviews where they are also authors.
Results: We will present numerical findings around Editors and authorship, and will provide an overview of the current status of individual CRG policies on this issue.
Conclusions: We will use the results to help inform practice and perhaps identify areas where policy is lacking and propose solutions.