The Cochrane Collaboration open learning material

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Module contents:

Planning a review, format of reviews, introduction to RevMan

Learning objectives

Planning your review

Format of a Cochrane review

Getting started with RevMan

Next module

Getting started with RevMan

Review Manager, RevMan for short, is the software developed within the Cochrane Collaboration for preparing reviews in a structured way, so that they can then be put together as The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

This software has been developed over a number of years. The current version is RevMan 4.1, and there is not likely to be a major upgrade before about 2004.

You'll need a computer that can run Windows 95 or above. There is no Mac version of RevMan, so Mac users will need some way of running Windows software

To get RevMan, there are several options. The website will always have the most up-to-date version of the software:

visit the RevMan page (www.cochrane-net.org/revman). There you'll find instructions on downloading and installing the software
if you get the software on CD or floppy disks from you review group or elsewhere, look for a setup file on the CD or disk 1 of the floppies and run it

Activity: Cochrane reviewers will need to get a 'Contact ID' from their review group

When you first install RevMan, you are prompted for a 'Contact ID'. This is some short code (often your initials) given to you by your Cochrane review group to distinguish you from other reviewers in the group. It is used as part of the code identifying reviews you are working on - this is done automatically by RevMan once you've put the ID in.

Once you're past that stage, you should be at the front page of RevMan, looking something like this:

A good way to orientate yourself is to press the question mark button in the toolbar, which will tell you about the main window, and some of the features of RevMan. If you're familiar with Windows, most of this will be fairly familiar.

RevMan exercise

Different people like learning software in different ways. Some people like to get to know the whole package in one go, and others prefer to learn it as they're using it.

David Badger, formerly of the Australasian Cochrane Centre, developed a self-directed exercise for learning RevMan some years ago. It was updated in 2000, and is available from the Cochrane websites in the same place you found the software itself, under the section labelled "training and promotional resources". It consists of a Word document and some files to use in RevMan.

Start the RevMan Exercise to familiarise yourself with the program

Use this exercise however you want - it takes about 3 hours to do the whole exercise, which will explore most features of the program. You may wish, instead, just to do bits of the exercise as you work through the modules.


© The Cochrane Collaboration 2002		Next: Module 5