Background: CENTRAL is the world's most complete register of intervention studies. It is however a register of references to studies rather than a register of the studies themselves. It comprises the results of ongoing work within the Cochrane Collaboration aimed at identifying all controlled studies from planned or ongoing studies to those that are completed or published. It is also a source of information on all studies that are included in Cochrane reviews. The Cochrane Depression, Anxiety & Neurosis Group (CCDAN) contributes to CENTRAL with quarterly submissions from its reference-based register CCDANCTR-References. For Cochrane review authors the unit of importance is not the reference but the study it describes. To facilitate this CCDAN has developed CCDANCTR-Studies a study-based register that currently contains 10,816 studies linked to 15,198 references (1.40 references per study). Each record contains information relevant to the inclusion criteria of CCDAN reviews such as design, blinding, diagnosis, setting, age group, interventions and outcomes, dropouts and sponsor.
Objectives: To get feedback from CCDAN authors on the relative merits and drawbacks of search results drawn from a reference-based versus a study-based register in the context of a single review.
Methods: Experienced authors (who have completed at least 1 review) will be invited to take part. Those who agree to do so will be given the inclusion criteria for an unpublished title "Desipramine for depression" and will be randomized (using a random numbers table) to receive search results from either CCDANCTR-Studies or CCDANCTR-References register. Outcome measures will include; - ease of use (1 - 5 scale) - time needed to assess which studies meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria - number of studies in the 'Studies awaiting assessment'section of the review - author's impression of format of results (1 - 5 scale) These outcomes will be examined while taking into account the different variables including; - the financial implications to a review group of developing a study based register - the time needed to develop a study-based register - the methodological issues involved in review production
Results: To be presented at the Colloquium.
Conclusions: To be presented at the Colloquium