MECIR Manual

Methodological Expectations of Cochrane Intervention Reviews
(MECIR)

Version August 2023

Standards for the conduct of new Cochrane Intervention Reviews, and the planning and conduct of updates

Julian Higgins1, Toby Lasserson2, James Thomas3, Ella Flemyng2, Rachel Churchill4

1 Professor of Evidence Synthesis, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
2 Evidence Production and Methods Directorate, Cochrane, London, UK
3Professor of Social Research and Policy, EPPI Centre, UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK
4 Professor of Evidence Synthesis, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, York, UK

 

These MECIR Standards present a guide to the conduct of Cochrane Intervention Reviews. Each set of Standards includes links to Cochrane Training resources, the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (the Handbook) and other available resources.

This online version will be kept up to date. A PDF of each section can be generated. All substantive changes will be noted here.

  • MECIR Standards link to the most up-to-date version of the Handbook chapters.
  • Where links to external resources are included Cochrane Interactive Learning is referred to as 'CIL'.
  • We welcome your feedback on MECIR, or if you have any general queries related to the MECIR Standards, please contact support@cochrane.org.