All systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews have the same format. There are several reasons for this. It helps readers to find the results of research quickly and to assess the validity, applicability and implications of those results. It guides authors to report their work explicitly and concisely, and minimises the effort required to do this. The format is also suited to electronic publication and updating, and facilitates the production of statistical summary figures and tables, which are informative and readable when viewed on a computer monitor or printed.
The Review Manager software (RevMan5) is designed to help authors construct reviews in the appropriate format and to prepare files required to transfer reviews electronically. Standard headings and tables embedded in RevMan5 guide review authors when preparing their report and are used by the publisher to structure the publication and link readers to the sections which are of particular interest to them. The content that should follow each heading is described in this chapter.
Each protocol consists of:
Title;
Protocol information – details of authors, contact person, important dates, ‘What’s new’ and ‘History’;
Main text of the protocol – consisting of the background, objectives, methods, acknowledgements and declaration of interests;
Tables – relevant to the background or methods;
Studies and references – other references relevant for the background or methods;
Sources of support – split into internal and external sources of support;
Appendices – relevant to the background or methods.
Each review consists of:
Title;
Review information – details of authors, contact person, important dates, ‘What’new’ and ‘History’;
Structured abstract;
Plain language summary;
Text of the review – consisting of the background, objectives, methods, results, discussion, authors’ conclusions, acknowledgements, contribution of authors, declaration of interests, differences between protocol and review, and published notes;
Tables – showing characteristics and methodological quality of the included studies, a summary of results table, a log of the studies that were excluded and reasons why, and additional tables relevant to the review;
Studies and references – presenting the references of the included studies, excluded studies and other references;
Data and analyses – presenting the data (2x2 table) by test or by study;
Figures – summarizing the methodological quality of the included studies, forest plots of sensitivity and specificity, figures of summary receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots, and any additional imported figures;
Sources of support – split into internal and external sources of support;
Feedback;
Appendices.