What's new in RevMan 5.3

Major changes

Risk of Bias Summary at outcome level

The Risk of Bias (RoB) summary table for an outcome can now be viewed in data tables and the Forest Plot window and be included in Figures based on forest plots.

A new option under Tools> Preferences: Interface allows turning the RoB Summary on by default. It can be toggled for an individual outcome using the new Risk of Bias button.

Once you have added a figure of the type Forest Plot you can open the figure, edit the properties and select ‘Show Risk of Bias Summary’ to activate this. The Risk of Bias summary will then be located to the right of the forest plot graph.

Note on challenges for outcome level domains

Bias domains that apply at study level will be shown for all outcomes, but for outcome level domains, this feature will only work correctly if the relevant outcome groups have been specified in detail, e by selecting the outcomes for each group. RevMan 5.3 will adjust for that in two ways:

Compatibility with previous versions

If a review with figures that includes the Rob Summary is opened in RevMan 5.2 or earlier, the Rob Summary will not be displayed. If the review is then saved or checked in, those figures will lose the setting, and it must be reapplied using RevMan 5.3.

Guidance pane for MECIR incorporation

A Guidance pane to the right of the text can now show all  MECIR reporting standards in context. The guidance is dynamically fetched from Archie when the user is online, so it can be updated in real time, but is also cached such that it is available offline. There content can be expanded in the future to include, for example, Training resources, Handbook Chapters, common errors, etc.

This pane is set to view by default when RevMan opens up, and can be closed using the ‘x’ and opened again using the ‘i’ icon, it can also be turned off on start-up by deselecting on the ‘View’ menu.

Flexible reviews

A new review type; ‘Flexible reviews', can now be edited in RevMan. Use of the flexible review type within Cochrane is still being prototyped, and individual review groups (or authors) cannot currently write and publish these reviews without approval from the Methods Groups. In the Flexible review type only top-level sections and a few second level sections are mandatory. So far Prognosis reviews and Qualitative reviews can use the Flexible review format (more types will be possible in the future, and discussions are being initiated by IKMD to ensure an appropriate procedure to manage new review templates). There are no standard optional headings, and therefore there may need to be some consideration around standardising the format in which ‘add-in’ headings are used by authors to future-proof and attempt to standardise templates as best as possible.

Study Centric View

This is a new way to order the display of study information in a review. It groups  all information regarding each study under the Study ID in the outline pane: References, Characteristics, Risk of Bias and Analysis results. The default view is also still available.

You can switch to Study Centric View using the toolbar over the tree view, or switch it on permanently under Tools > Preferences: Interface.

Medium-level changes

Minor changes

 

See also What's new in previous versions.