No.5: The Cochrane Library
- What is The Cochrane Library?
- Access
- Search
- Display results
- Navigate around a Review
- Odds-Ratio diagrams
- Export citations
- Further help
What is The Cochrane Library
The Cochrane Library is the premier resource for information on the effectiveness of healthcare interventions, and now includes systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy.
Main databases:
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Cochrane Reviews): full text of completed reviews carried out by the Cochrane Collaboration, plus protocols for reviews currently in preparation.
- Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (Other Reviews): structured abstracts of systematic reviews evaluated outside the Cochrane Collaboration. Only reviews that meet minimum quality criteria are included.
- Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Clinical Trials): register of controlled trials; identified from bibliographic databases (notably Medline and Embase), and other published and unpublished sources. CENTRAL records contain bibliographic details and abstracts.
Other databases include:
- Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews (Methods Reviews).
- The National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (Economic Evaluation).
- Health Technology Assessment Database (Technology Assessments).
Access
Select The Cochrane Library from the library's list of databases. Log In or just start searching.
Registration and logging in
Using a registered login allows search histories to be saved for future use.
- Select Log In then go to Register Now. Complete the free registration. An authentication email will be sent to the address you provide; follow the instructions to verify your account. On returning to the site, simply log in with your email and password.
- Enter Cochrane in the search box, select Publication Titles.
- Select Go.
- Select The Cochrane Library from the Title list.
Select Save Title to My Profile. Next time you log in, select The Cochrane Library from Titles in your personal navigation bar at the top of the screen.
Search
For a basic search, use the quick search box. For more complex searching, use Advanced Search, MeSH Search and Search History.
Summary search tips
- The current interface does not search the reference list.
- A space between two terms defaults to Boolean AND, for example: heart attack. searches for heart AND attack i.e. both words in any order of proximity.
- Use quotation marks to search for exact phrase, for example: "heart attack".
- Use NEXT to find adjacent terms in the order entered (directional), for example: heart NEXT attack will find heart attack, but will not find attack heart.
- Use NEAR for a non-directional search. NEAR defaults to finding two terms within 6 words of each other in either direction including stop words. Increase the distance between the terms to allow for stop words by using "/number" after NEAR, for example: foot NEAR/11 diabet*. An apostrophe is treated as a space. To search for adjacent words such as St John's Wort, use st* john* near/2 wort.
- A hyphen is treated as a space. Searching for breast will retrieve both the hyphenated and unhyphenated term, such as breast-feeding or breast feeding, but will not retrieve breastfeeding. Searching for breast-feeding will not give the same number of results as searching for breast feeding. For a comprehensive retrieval, always search both the hyphenated and unhyphenated form of a term.
- Text is not case sensitive.
- Stemming automatically searches for common spelling variants, for example:
- randomize searches for randomize or randomise
- tumour searches for tumour or tumor
- paediatric searches for paediatric or pediatric
- hematology searches for hematology or haematology
- Wildcard character (*) can be used to truncate anywhere in a search term, except the
second last letter of the word, or when quotation marks are used.
- Use wildcard (*) in these instances:
- hyp*rtension will search for hypertension or hypotension
- *natal will search for antenatal or prenatal
- Do not use wildcard (*) in these instances:
- randomi*e will not find randomize or randomise
- tumo*r will not find tumour or tumor
- "heart attack*" will retrieve only "heart attack" not "heart attacks"
- Use wildcard (*) in these instances:
- Both singular and plural forms of a search term are matched, for example: foot searches for foot or feet. Use quotation marks to override this, for example "child".
- Stop words: words such as "in", "the" and "of" are matched. Only AND, OR, NOT, NEAR, NEXT are treated as stop words.
- Accented characters are not matched by their equivalent unaccented form. Include both accented and unaccented terms in the search box, using an OR operator to match all cases, or use the wildcard character (*) for a broad match, for example: st* john* wort. This applies to all fields except Author.
Limit a search to a particular field: make a selection from the drop down menu in Basic
and Advanced searches. In Basic Search, the menu defaults to Title, Abstract or Keywords,
while in Advanced Search it defaults to all fields. Another way to limit to a particular field
is to use suffixes, but this feature is only available in Search History, for
example: compression stockings:ti,ab will search for compression stockings in title or
abstract field. If no field tag is specified, all fields are searched as the default.
Compose a search
- Define your topic.
- Search one concept at a time.
- Identify different terms to describe a concept.
- Search using both keywords and thesaurus (MeSH).
Search by keywords
Enter keywords in Basic Search, Advanced Search or Search History. Consider using synonyms and alternate spellings.
Search using MeSH
The MeSH Thesaurus is published by the US National Library of Medicine. MeSH terms are attached to many, though not all, records in the Cochrane Library.
- Open a MeSH search by selecting MeSH Search in the search box (also available in Basic Search, Advanced Search and Search History).
- Enter a search term and select Thesaurus to display MeSH terms.
- Select the most appropriate MeSH term from the alphabetical list to view the tree.
- Select View Results. This will include the search term and all its narrower terms (if any).
Search history
Keeps a record of all searches from the current session. Combine search lines in Search history, for example: #1 or #2 to combine the first two lines.
Save the entire search history: select Save Search Strategy, and provide a strategy name and any comments you wish. You must already be logged in to save searches.
Run a saved search: go to Saved Searches (also available in Basic Search, Advanced Search and Search History) and select Run.
Save the search history as a text file: for use in printed reports and presentations, select Export.
Display results
Results display the Cochrane Reviews by default.
Navigate around a Review
Odds-Ratio diagrams (Intervention Reviews only)
These diagrams complement the text of the systematic review and vice versa; neither should be consulted in isolation. Odds-ratio diagrams are available from Figures (full size) in the Table of Contents, while the associated tables are available from Tables.
The diagrams appear complicated, but provide a reliable overview of the evidence.
Export citations
Citations can be exported into bibliographic software such as EndNote.
Export selected citations:
- Select the checkboxes next to the records to be exported.
- Select Export Selected Citations.
- Select Export Type and File Type, then Go.
Export all citations on the current page:
- Choose Select All.
- Select Export Selected Citations.
- Select Export Type and File Type, then Go.
Export all citations in that database, for example, all citations from the Cochrane Reviews:
- Select Export All Results.
- Select Export Type and File Type, then Go.
Further help
- Sign up for a free tutorial in the library.
- View some online tutorials from Wiley InterScience.
- Contact the library or Ask a Librarian.