Issue 18 of the digest updates you on CRS Web developments, highlights some resources you might like to try and rounds up a couple of items from the CIS mailing list. We've also got a question from the helpdesk on citing data in the Study Results tab on ClinicalTrials.gov.
CRS Web update
News from Seoul...
Metaxis and the CIS Support Team ran a workshop in Seoul on CRS Web. The aim was to introduce participants to aspects of the system, and to receive feedback. A big thank you to all who attended and gave us their ideas. The feedback is crucial, as the development is agile and led by the input of the user community. Some of the feedback given to the Metaxis team has been incorporated into CRS Web already, and forms part of the new release, coming out the week commencing 21st November.
As of this month, we now have seven CISs live on the new system. A further eight are using the demo system, and will go live very soon. We aim to get all CISs working in CRS Web by the end of the first quarter of 2017, after which time we will switch off the CRS stand-alone, desktop version.
The Support Team will be contacting CISs over the coming months, with an invitation to move over to the new platform, but we would be happy to hear from you if you would like to move sooner. Contact us on cis-support@cochrane.org.
CIS Support will be offering training webinars over the coming months, and there will be a CRS training day at the UK and Ireland Symposium in Oxford in March 2017.
We have a checklist available, outlining the steps you need to go through to convert to CRS Web. Find it here.
If you were unable to come along to the Seoul workshop, we've recorded the presentations and demos, follow the links below to listen in:
You can also access the Powerpoint slides from the day here.
Resources
Learning Zone
NHS Health Education England have put together some key online resources to support health librarians and knowledge specialists with their personal and professional development. Resources fall into three categories:
Types of resource in the Learning Zone include blogs, books, courses, discussion lists, e-books, e-learning, grey literature, journals, people, reports, social media, videos and websites. In order to be included in the Learning Zone the resource must be directly related to the library / information / knowledge management sector, produced by a reputable source, be accurate and complete, current with evidence of regular updating and freely accessible.
Librarians are also encouraged to submit their own ideas for resources via the form on the Learning Zone homepage.
Trials Register resource
The York Health Economics Consortium have made available this great resource on trials registers. It contains a list of trials registries, and tips on searching each. Find it here.
Round up from the mailing list
Open Trials now available in Beta
OpenTrials is a collaboration between Open Knowledge International and Ben Goldacre's DataLab. It aims to locate, match, and share all publicly accessible data and documents, on all trials conducted, on all medicines and other treatments, globally. To find out more read this paper.
The Beta version of Open Trials is now available for searching. Have a look and see what you think! Thanks to Robin Paynter for contacting the IRMG mailing list.
Cochrane Library - DARE and EED update
Last month we reported on the changes coming to the Cochrane Library, one of which was the removal of the DARE and NHS EED databases from the platform. Carol Lefebvre has contacted the IRMG mailing list to confirm that the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at York have said that these databases will still be accessible until at least 2021 via their website.
The HTA database will continue to be updated until 31st March 2017, when a decision will be taken on its future.
At the Information Retrieval Methods Group meeting in Seoul, it was announced that the Research Synthesis Methods journal are planning a special edition, focusing on information retrieval. If you would like to submit a paper, see the author guidelines here. They are interested in any research on information retrieval methods for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Questions from the helpdesk
How do I cite the data given in the "Study Results" tab of ClinicalTrials.gov?
This question came up when an author team found a study with data available for use from the "Study Results" section of the ClinicalTrials.gov record. The CIS who contacted us was concerned that the place this data came from might not be transparent unless there was some way to cite it. We contacted copy-edit support to find out how to handle this data.
The conclusion was if the trial is completed and included in the review it should go into Included Studies, not Ongoing studies, or Awaiting classification. Citing this trial registry reference with published papers for the same trial indicates that the registry reference contributes data to the review, as we would not generally cite the whole trial registry reference, though we might provide the trial registry number as one of the various identifiers. Inserting a brief note - possibly in the pages line, or somewhere sensible - '(Study results tab)' - directs readers to where they will find the results this reference contributes.
Contact us...
Don't forget, previous editions of the Cochrane Information Specialist Support Team digest are available on the CIS Portal (Archie login required)
Contact the Support Team for help with any Cochrane Information Specialist related issue (including CRS technical support): cis-support@cochrane.org
The Cochrane Information Specialist Support Team:
Liz Doney I Sam Faulkner I Ruth Foxlee
Anne Littlewood I Doug Salzwedel
