Article type
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Abstract
Background: Identifying reviews which are likely to proceed in a timely manner is important for Cochrane review groups seeking to allocate their resources.
Objectives: To determine those factors associated with the timely completion of a Cochrane review.
Methods: We performed Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression to determine those factors associated with the timely completion of a Cochrane review or protocol using data obtained from the Cochrane Renal Group. We included the following predictive factors: number of listed authors, whether the contact author’s first language was English, whether the contact author previously published a Cochrane review (any group), the continent of origin for the contact author (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, South America) and iThenticate (plagiarism) score for the background section of protocols.
Results: In April 2012, there were 27 active registered titles, 75 active protocols and 99 active reviews in the Cochrane Renal Group register. In addition, there were 30 titles which were withdrawn prior to protocol publication and 25 published protocols which were withdrawn. No published review was withdrawn. Table 1 outlines some characteristics of the included reviews. On Kaplan-Meier analysis the number of protocol authors, previous publications, region of origin and iThenticate scores were associated with completion, with a P < 0.25. On multivariate Cox regression, only the number of protocol authors (P<0.001) and previous publication of a Cochrane review (P=0.004) remained significant, see Table 2. A greater number of protocol authors was predictive of a shorter duration to publication, whilst a previous Cochrane publication for the contact author was predictive of an increased time to completion.
Conclusions: This analysis identifies factors associated with the timely completion of a Cochrane review and will help with the allocation of resources. As part of our future research we plan to identify other factors associated with the timely completion of a review.
Objectives: To determine those factors associated with the timely completion of a Cochrane review.
Methods: We performed Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression to determine those factors associated with the timely completion of a Cochrane review or protocol using data obtained from the Cochrane Renal Group. We included the following predictive factors: number of listed authors, whether the contact author’s first language was English, whether the contact author previously published a Cochrane review (any group), the continent of origin for the contact author (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, South America) and iThenticate (plagiarism) score for the background section of protocols.
Results: In April 2012, there were 27 active registered titles, 75 active protocols and 99 active reviews in the Cochrane Renal Group register. In addition, there were 30 titles which were withdrawn prior to protocol publication and 25 published protocols which were withdrawn. No published review was withdrawn. Table 1 outlines some characteristics of the included reviews. On Kaplan-Meier analysis the number of protocol authors, previous publications, region of origin and iThenticate scores were associated with completion, with a P < 0.25. On multivariate Cox regression, only the number of protocol authors (P<0.001) and previous publication of a Cochrane review (P=0.004) remained significant, see Table 2. A greater number of protocol authors was predictive of a shorter duration to publication, whilst a previous Cochrane publication for the contact author was predictive of an increased time to completion.
Conclusions: This analysis identifies factors associated with the timely completion of a Cochrane review and will help with the allocation of resources. As part of our future research we plan to identify other factors associated with the timely completion of a review.
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