MINUTES

Meeting of the Cochrane Information Retrieval Methods Groups

XX Cochrane Colloquium, Auckland New Zealand

7.30-9.00 am Tuesday 2nd October 2012

Venue: Gallery

Carol Lefebvre (CL): Co-convenor Cochrane IRMG & Co-Chair

Alison Weightman (AW): Co-Convenor Cochrane IRMG

Bernadette Coles (BC): Co-ordinatorCochrane IRMG(Minutes)

Apologies: Julie Glanville & Jessie McGowan: Co–convenors Cochrane IRMG

30 people were in attendance.

Item. / Details / Action
1. / Welcome & introductions.
CL Welcomed everyone to the meeting and made introductions.
2. / Minutes of the Last Meeting (Madrid, Spain 2012)
Accepted as an accurate record
Matters Arising.
Any matters arising from would be dealt with under agenda items.
3.
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
4. / Agenda Items
Methodological Expectations of Cochrane Intervention Reviews (MECIR) [CL]
CL gave a brief summary of the activities around the MECIR standards in the previous 12 months and attention was drawn to the finalised standards website at and the workshop ‘ New standards for searching for studies: an update on the MECIR project’.
RevMan Software Developments. (Sheila Wallace) [SW]
SW is the TSC rep on the RevMan advisory committee and she presented a short update on the development of RevMan 6, including items of particular interest to IRMG members.
20th Anniversary Celebrations [CL & AW]
Suggestions for papers concerning the anniversary were invited and the following were received:
  • Ruth Mitchell to consider editorial in BMC System Rev, JMLA or HILJ.
  • Claire Stansfield/ AW to talk to Marit Johansen about a LMIC database paper.
  • Papers on search filters/gold standards in developing strategies
People were asked to continue thinking if they could contribute in some way.
Filters for CLIB [BC]
Current problems around reference management download filters after the Cochrane Library upgrade were discussed. Ruth Foxley agreed to keep the group updated on solutions. It was also agreed to test the filters on the IRMG webste once the solutions were in place.
Cochrane Handbook - updates and revisions [CL]
CL discussed the programme for alterations to the Searching for Studies chapter of the Cochrane Handbook. She emphasized the difference between the upcoming minor update (‘corrections’ to existing text) and the next major revision which would happen in 2013 for publication in 2014.
The group will be invited to take contribute to both processes next year.
IRMG workplan [AW]
The current IRMG workplan was circulated to the membership via the IRMG discussion list before the meeting.
No comments or updates were received.
AW lead a discussion on the format of the workplan and the following actions were agreed;
AW to revamp workplan and contact members for updates of their projects.
To keep workplan as a Word document for the moment but consider other options (eg. Shared wiki for the future)
To ask for updates in a powerpoint format for future meetings.
Any other business
No other business was raised.
Date and time of next meeting.
Quebec, Canada 19-23 September 2013 / ALL
BC
CL
AW