1. Project Transform Julian Elliott Australasian Cochrane Centre
on behalf of Project Transform

2. Starting point Content production is our core business
Global network of contributors is our key asset
Technology alone cannot solve our challenges
It is only through the combination of
our networks and technology
that our long term value and sustainability
can be ensured

3. Goal
To significantly improve the long-term value and sustainability of Cochrane by piloting, refining and scaling-up innovations in content production.
We expect this to deliver significant benefits for Cochrane review production and updating, improve impact and topic coverage, and enhance the engagement, retention and experience of authors.

4. Objectives
To support Strategy to 2020 and build the infrastructure within Cochrane to deliver high value content.
Specific objectives:
1. To more effectively harness the skills and enthusiasm of our contributors (Strategy to 2020, Goal 4)
2. To more efficiently identify research and understand review currency (Strategy to 2020, Goal 1)

5. Challenges Information retrieval Opportunities for new contributors
Connecting contributors
Ensuring quality content

6. Information retrieval
The challenge
Virtually impossible to find studies for inclusion in a timely and reliable way
Consumes a significant proportion of resources invested in review production
Significant delays and unnecessary duplication
No complete repository of randomized trials

7. Evidence Pipeline

8. Getting involved The challenge
Pathways for new contributors are poorly defined
Poor experience for potential new contributors
Time, effort and frustration for Managing Editors
No significant increase in the number of new contributors per year

9. The screening tool You are not alone! Progress bar Three choices
(and you can’t
go back)
We do this using a citation screening tool. This tool is fundamental to the crowd’s ability to perform the task. We wanted to develop something that focused almost entirely on the task in hand – that of screening a citation – as you can see the screen is mostly taken up with the citation which is stripped down to just title and abstract. There are some built in pre-defined highlighted words and phrases which are to help guide screeners to the most relevant parts of a citation. Yellow highlighted words and phrases indicate that the record is likely to be describing an RCT and Red highlights indicate that the record is likely to be a Reject. Screeners can also add their own highlights. There are three decision buttons: RCT/CCT, Reject or Unsure and screeners have to make a decision on a record; two other features I just want to quickly point out are the all important progress bar, and the feature which tells you how many others are online screening citations at the same time…
Yellow highlights to indicate a likely RCT
Red highlights

10. The Embase project: recruitment
We have a task, we have a tool, we just need a crowd. We’ve not found this difficult. In a year since going live we’ve had over 900 people sign up to take part. The crowd have screened over 110,000 citations and identified 4,000 reports of RCTs.
people have signed-up to screen citations in 12 months
- 110,000+ citations have been collectively screened
4,000 RCTs/q-RCTs identified by the crowd
99% sensitivity and 99% specificity

12. Connecting contributors
The challenge
Many author teams have insufficient skills or resources to complete the required range of tasks on time without external assistance
Large burden on CRGs to fill this gap
Cochrane’s key competitive advantage – our global network of contributors – is not well utilized in this model

14. Ensuring quality content
The challenge
We operate in an increasingly competitive environment
Increasing recognition that our reviews are of variable quality and many are out of date
CRGs work hard to ensure quality and currency, but the volunteer model limits the ability to ensure delivery
Cochrane has limited ability to ensure delivery of an up to date, quality product limiting our ability to develop new revenue sources

15. Inputs Existing variation in content production
New opportunities presented by Project Transform and other Cochrane projects
Evolving needs of our end users
Need to develop new business models

16. Production Models
Review and evaluate various production models in use currently
Select one or more for piloting and evaluation
Refine and promote across Cochrane
Aim: author team arrangements that
Build on Cochrane’s strengths
Scalable and cost-effective
Improves accountability
Maintain financial viability

17. Overview Information retrieval  Evidence Pipeline
Opportunities for new  Getting Involved
contributors
Connecting contributors  Task Exchange
Ensuring quality content  Production Models

18. Complex intervention looking at psychosocial outcomes in dementia
Author team characteristics
N=4 // Skilled (methods and statistics) // Domain knowledge//10 hrs per week spent on review
Current model
Project TRANSFORM
Multi-source complex search strategies developed based on P and I
90% of search and screen activity already performed
10,000+ search results retrieved
64 already annotated results delivered
1 hr spent screening results
250 hrs screening (approx 6 months)
25 full texts obtained and assessing
12 full texts obtained and assessed
8 included studies
8 included studies
Time elapsed from protocol publication:
approx. 8 months
Time elapsed from protocol publication:
approx. 2 weeks

19. Team Project Executive
Julian Elliott (Co-Lead), James Thomas (Co-Lead), Sally Green, Chris Mavergames, Steve McDonald, Anna Noel-Storr, David Tovey
Project Team
Clive Adams, Lorne Becker, Linn Brandt, Rachel Churchill, Agustin Ciapponi, Miranda Cumpston, Gordon Dooley, Ruth Foxlee, Demian Glujovsky, Toby Lasserson, Geraldine Macdonald, Sue Marcus, Rupert McShane, Charlotte Pestridge, Daniel Perez Rada, Gabriel Rada, Jessica Thomas and IKMD developers
Project component leads
Evidence Pipeline: James Thomas, Steve McDonald
Getting Involved: Anna Noel-Storr, Chris Mavergames
Task Exchange: Anna Noel-Storr, Chris Mavergames, Julian Elliott
Cochrane Evidence Networks: Julian Elliott, David Tovey

20. Participate
It is only with the involvement of the broader Cochrane community that we will be able to realise the opportunities presented by this work.
Information
Regular updates in the Cochrane Community and Cochrane Connect newsletters
A website and  group which will be kept up to date as the project progresses
Regular webinars 
Workshops and presentations at major meetings
Get involved
Interaction with Cochrane groups, including executives, boards, review groups
Opportunities to get involved in early testing and piloting 
Opportunities for computer scientists to get involved in the machine learning aspects of the project

21. Project Transform contacts