Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Since 2000, a periodic count has been done of members of Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs), subdivided by country of residence.
Objectives: To assess international activity within CRGs.
Methods: Data were retrieved on 12 April 2011 for all active contributors toCRGs whose contact details were in The Cochrane Collaboration’s contact database (Archie). One author (CA) analyzed the data, by role within the CRG and country of residence. Unlike previous years when individuals were counted repeatedly each time they appeared in the audit, people listed more than once are now counted once only. This made comparisons to absolute numbers in earlier years difficult, hence the focus on percentages in the following results.
Results: Among 53 CRGs, there were 24 228 individual contributors from 118 countries. Of these, 20 246 (84%) contributors were listed as authors, which is a higher proportion than that estimated for recent years (when it was usually around 75%), and much higher than in earlier years (e.g. 52% in 2000). There are now 4618 contributors in countries with low- and middle-income economies (19% of all contributors, compared to 6% in 2000). Of these 4618 people, 4346 people werelisted as authors (94%).
Conclusions: The international diversity of people involvedin the work of The Cochrane Collaboration continues to grow, and more than 24 000 individuals are contributing to its work. For many of these people, this involves direct involvement in the preparation and maintenance of systematic reviews, ensuring the continuing success of the Collaboration as the world’s largest producer of systematic reviews in health care. The growth in the contribution of people from low- and middle-income countries has been sustained, with more than 4000 authors in these countries. Other data analyses will be shown in the poster. The data will be available at http://www.cochrane.org.
Objectives: To assess international activity within CRGs.
Methods: Data were retrieved on 12 April 2011 for all active contributors toCRGs whose contact details were in The Cochrane Collaboration’s contact database (Archie). One author (CA) analyzed the data, by role within the CRG and country of residence. Unlike previous years when individuals were counted repeatedly each time they appeared in the audit, people listed more than once are now counted once only. This made comparisons to absolute numbers in earlier years difficult, hence the focus on percentages in the following results.
Results: Among 53 CRGs, there were 24 228 individual contributors from 118 countries. Of these, 20 246 (84%) contributors were listed as authors, which is a higher proportion than that estimated for recent years (when it was usually around 75%), and much higher than in earlier years (e.g. 52% in 2000). There are now 4618 contributors in countries with low- and middle-income economies (19% of all contributors, compared to 6% in 2000). Of these 4618 people, 4346 people werelisted as authors (94%).
Conclusions: The international diversity of people involvedin the work of The Cochrane Collaboration continues to grow, and more than 24 000 individuals are contributing to its work. For many of these people, this involves direct involvement in the preparation and maintenance of systematic reviews, ensuring the continuing success of the Collaboration as the world’s largest producer of systematic reviews in health care. The growth in the contribution of people from low- and middle-income countries has been sustained, with more than 4000 authors in these countries. Other data analyses will be shown in the poster. The data will be available at http://www.cochrane.org.