Welcome to the
Cochrane Back Review Group
Welcome to the web site of the Cochrane Collaborative Back Review Group (BRG), one of 50 international Review Groups. The BRG coordinates the publication of literature reviews of primary and secondary prevention and treatment of neck and back pain and other spinal disorders, excluding inflammatory diseases and fractures.
On this site, you will find links to the Cochrane Collaboration, the Institute for Work & Health and a variety of resources to help you complete your systematic review.
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international not-for-profit and independent organization, dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions.
The Back Review Group is hosted by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) in Toronto, Canada. The IWH is an independent, not-for-profit research organization whose mission is to conduct and share research with workers, labour, employers, clinicians and policy-makers to promote, protect and improve the health of working people.
A message regarding surgical reviews
The Editorial Board has recently decided that it is important to take a step back and decide on the most appropriate way to proceed with surgical reviews. We have now
consulted with a number of leading international surgeons in the field of low-back surgery and are about to engage others who are involved in neck surgery; their advice will be taken into consideration
by the Editorial Board when they meet to finalize the plan in June. Until then, we will not be accepting new titles for surgical reviews. We will notify readers of the decisions of the Board as soon as
possible.
NEWS!
The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre, in partnership with the Canadian Health Libraries Association, has successfully secured a pilot for a national license to The Cochrane Library in Canada. Until the end of 2009, all Canadians with Internet access will be able to download full reviews from the Library. Sustainable funding will be sought to make the access permanent for all Canadians. Click here to read more, or contact j.douce2@uottawa.ca for further details. The Cochrane Library can be accessed at www.thecochranelibrary.com.
Do you have a question about a treatment for neck or back pain that we may be able to answer by doing a systematic review? If so, please send your ideas to Vicki Pennick, Managing Editor at cochrane@iwh.on.ca or vpennick@iwh.on.ca
WHAT'S NEW for the Back Review Group
The December 2008 issue of the CBRG newsletter is now available!
Click on the image to find out more about the 17th Cochrane Colloquium, Singapore 2009.
Training linksWiley-Blackwell is continuing to offer FREE Cochrane Library webinars specifically for Canadians on October 8 and 12 in response to the Cochrane Library pilot.
Register through the Link above entitled The Cochrane Library - an introduction (Canada) - all you need is an internet connection and access to a telephone to participate!
Note that if a session is full you can contact Caroll Mitchell to place your name on a waiting list.
For the latest issue of Cochrane News, click here.
The 2008 Impact Factor for The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) is now available. Click here for more information.
For more information on New Protocols, Reviews, Updated Reviews and other information on Reviews, go to our What's New at the BRG page
Converting to RevMan 5: For BRG review authors -- need tips on using RevMan 5 for the first time? Need tips on getting started with the new Summary of Findings tables? Click here for the BRG's Revman 5 Tips page.
2009 Submission dates are available in PDF format.
for more Cochrane news, click here)