Strategy for a more evidence-informed world

Strategy

Diversify and collaborate to tackle the biggest health challenges

The Cochrane Collaboration has been producing trusted, high-quality health evidence for over 30 years and the world has changed a lot in that time. Cochrane continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of evidence users across the world, from guideline-setters and medical professionals to patients and their families.

Over the next four years we will focus our efforts where the need for synthesized evidence is greatest, to bring benefit to as many people as possible. Our scientific strategy, which we aim to publish by the end of 2024, will identify and prioritise the most pressing health issues where Cochrane can make a genuine difference. This will provide clarity on our future scientific direction and contribute to our wider strategy for a more evidence-informed world.

We will expand our work to help more people around the world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, to contribute to and benefit from high-quality health evidence that is relevant to their lives. We want to see a world where people making health decisions at all levels have access to timely, relevant evidence, and are equipped with the knowledge and expertise to interpret it and translate it into practice. By embedding evidence-informed approaches globally, we hope to help save and improve lives across the world.

Our strategy is underpinned by four key goals:

Produce timely, relevant evidence for and with those who need it most

To achieve this we will:

  • Prioritize evidence that helps those in greatest need, through our scientific strategy
  • Streamline and simplify evidence production
  • Develop new methods to address emerging issues
  • Champion research integrity and transparency

Save and improve lives by ensuring everyone can contribute to and benefit from trusted evidence

To achieve this we will:

  • Get our evidence to the people who need it
  • Make our evidence more globally accessible and usable
  • Identify and address barriers to equitable participation
  • Increase engagement in low- and middle-income countries

Collaborate locally and globally to strengthen our community and enhance impact

To achieve this we will:

  • Work with partners at all levels to embed evidence-informed approaches
  • Strengthen evidence synthesis capacity in low-and middle-income countries
  • Facilitate greater collaboration between Cochrane groups
  • Support patient and public participation in producing and using evidence

Secure our long-term sustainability

To achieve this we will:

  • Chart a sustainable path to open access
  • Grow and diversify our income
  • Make Cochrane a great place to work
  • Optimise our systems and processes

We believe that our ambitious strategy will help to catalyze a step change in the evidence synthesis community, advancing global health equity and democratizing evidence production. We recognize that Cochrane is just one organisation in a complex, fast-changing world, so we will need to work collaboratively with people and organizations across the globe to make our strategy a reality. Everyone has a role to play to bring about a more evidence-informed world, and we hope you will join us on this journey.


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