Background: The strategic plan of the CENTRAL Vision Group states that the ‘‘Master List of Journals being handsearched should be more closely integrated with the development of the Cochrane register of studies. This would aid in providing clear information about what searching has been completed and is reflected in the register of studies’’. The Master List of Journals Being Searched (Master List) was created in 1993 to 1994 to avoid duplication of effort (i.e., multiple groups searching the same journals). The Master List is a compilation of registered searches and journals being searched and conference proceedings added in 2000. Results of handsearching documented in the Master List have been an integral part of the development of CENTRAL. We review the history and current status of the Master List as a prelude to integration of the Master List into the strategic plan for CENTRAL. Methods: We reviewed electronic and paper files for information related to the Master List and annual updates. We determined number of journals and conference proceedings searched by year, and calculated the proportion of Trials Search Coordinators responding to the annual update request. Results: The Master List, a spreadsheet of 650 journals in 1995, expanded to an Access database of over 2000 unique journals and 200 conference proceedings being searched in 2008. It became searchable on the Internet in 1997. In 1999, responsibility for annual updates moved from about 350 individual handsearchers to Cochrane entities. Annual response rates for approximately 70 contacted entities were 55%, 69%, 49%, 90%, and 90% in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. In 2006, four entities reported that they were no longer handsearching. The number of new searches registered per year ranged from 6 to 70 for journals and 5 to 42 for conference proceedings. Over 26,000 journal-years have been registered and searched to date. Conclusions: The Master List promotes the development of CENTRAL by focusing handsearch efforts and avoiding duplication of effort. Integration of the Master List into CENTRAL would allow for users to determine the coverage of the Cochrane register of studies more easily and accurately.