Cochrane Hit By Cash Crisis
The Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group has been responsible for excellent research but has now lost all funding from the National Institute for Health Research
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by Dave Cross
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CTAG released a statement saying: “In August 2021, our principal funder, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) informed us that they will terminate all funding to Cochrane Review Groups as of March 2023. We are grateful to have benefitted from many years of stable funding from the NIHR.
“In response to this situation, Cochrane has decided to disband the Cochrane Review Groups and move to a new review production model. Cochrane is in the process of developing this new model, and you can join in that discussion here.
“We are not certain what the future holds, but we do know that CTAG will cease to exist at the end of March 2023. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to Cochrane Tobacco Addiction over the last 25 years.
“In light of these events, we have developed a plan to fulfil our obligations as best we can in the time we have left. This involved a strict prioritisation of what reviews we can support to completion. As part of this plan, we have taken the decision that we will not register any new review titles or support any review updates that are not already in progress.
“Rest assured that even though we will not be able to support any more Cochrane Reviews or updates, there will still be opportunities for authors looking to conduct reviews under Cochrane’s new model.”
Cochrane has just completed a consultation process to develop a new model for conducting research.
It commented: “No matter where you live around the globe at this moment, it’s a time of great uncertainty. For Cochrane, it’s a time that demands a decisive response to our rapidly changing world. There are many different options we could pursue.”
The consultation was guided by five immediate challenges that it must address:
- Our funding is less secure, and we are also committed to open access which will reduce our income substantially.
- There is more competition and we are no longer unique, so need to demonstrate our value.
- Cochrane has grown significantly and organically which means the way we work is no longer as efficient or simple to understand – and this challenges our relevance.
- We need to anticipate trends and be agile and adapt quickly to new ways of accessing, using, and sharing information.
- We will need to develop a new production model and a range of evidence synthesis products that are affordable and can sustain Cochrane into the future.
Whatever the future holds for CTAG, many will hope it continues to deliver its clear English, open access reviews to inform academic, clinical, and political decision making.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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