Background: Authors of Cochrane reviews use the review writing software RevMan for preparing systematic reviews. However, author teams first need to go through the different steps of literature searches and screening determining eligibility of trials and data extraction. At the moment, The Cochrane Collaboration does not provide a tool that can help manage the large amounts of data accumulating during this process. Objectives: To develop a web-based data management software for systematic reviews and meta-analyses that is able to facilitate the process of literature screening, data extraction and quality assessment. Methods: Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, we are developing a data management system based on an existing web-based data capturing system for clinical studies. The system will be fully compatible with RevMan 5 and accessible via a standard web browser. Results: We are implementing a first version of the system covering the whole systematic review process from literature screening to data extraction and quality assessment of included studies. The tool is able to manage the consensus process considered as standard in the conduct of systematic reviews. It will include robust definitions of 1:n relationships and a fully functional audit trail. Flexible data extraction forms and an efficient rights management with roles for different persons participating in the systematic review accommodate the needs of authors of systematic reviews. Title information and roles can be imported from a review template downloaded from the Collaboration’s central server, Archie, and, after completing data extraction, the data can be exported to a format that is readily available for RevMan 5 to import as the basis for further review work. Conclusions: The first version of the system will be presented at the 2008 Colloquium demonstrating the potential of the system. It is planned to pilot the system by different review authors in the second quarter of 2009. After a trial period, the Collaboration will be able to decide whether or not it wishes to adopt the tool as a freely available Collaboration tool.