COCHRANE DENMARK
A new publication in The BMJ presents INSPECT-SR, an international consensus-based tool developed to help systematic reviewers assess the trustworthiness of randomised controlled trials before including them in evidence syntheses. The publication includes Andreas Lundh, Associate Professor at our centre, as a co-author.
INSPECT-SR was developed in response to growing concerns that problematic studies may distort systematic reviews and clinical guidelines. The tool provides reviewers with 21 structured checks across four domains, helping them identify studies with serious concerns about the reliability of their data or findings.
INSPECT-SR has already been endorsed for use in Cochrane Reviews and is intended to become part of routine systematic review practice. The authors recommend that INSPECT-SR should be used before risk-of-bias assessment and data extraction, to avoid wasting time assessing the risk of bias of, and extracting data from, problematic trials.
Link: https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100611
Earlier this month, Christoffer Bruun Korfitsen successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Conflicts of interest in peer review of biomedical research”.
He started working on the project in 2021, when he first became affiliated with Cochrane Denmark & CEBMO.
If you are interested in reading more about his project, we have listed relevant sources below:
Press here to access his PhD thesis.
Press here to access a description of his project and links to the related publications.
Press here to access a short description at the University of Southern Denmark's website.
Webinar hosted by the SPIRIT-CONSORT Executive Group.
When: November 10, 2026, 15:00 – 17:30 CET.
What to Expect:
* Insights from leading researchers and methodologists on opportunities and future directions for CONSORT.
* Learnings from AI-driven tools to streamline and improve CONSORT implementation.
* Thought-provoking discussions on how reporting guidelines should evolve to maximize impact.
Speakers: David Moher, Ken Schulz, Malcolm MacLeod, Evan Mayo-Wilson, Jamie Cummins, Philippe Ravaud.
SPIRIT-CONSORT Executive Group
Isabelle Boutron, An-Wen Chan, Sally Hopewell, Asbjørn Hróbjartsson, David Moher, Ken Schulz
Webinar hosted by Cochrane Denmark & CEBMO.
When: 6 October 2026 from 12:00 noon to 12:45 PM (CEST).
Join us for an insightful lecture introducing QUADAS-3, the updated tool for evaluating the risk of bias and applicability of diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) studies. Building upon its widely used predecessors (QUADAS and QUADAS-2), QUADAS-3 addresses key methodological challenges in modern diagnostic research, including complex study designs and emerging diagnostic technologies.
One of the authors, Associate Professor Anne W.S. Rutjes, will give the lecture.
Where: Link to webinar
Password: 147387
This week, we held our annual consultancy services theme session at Cochrane Denmark and Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Odense (CEBMO).
Our consultancy service plays an important role in supporting researchers with methodological guidance on systematic reviews, scoping reviews, randomised clinical trials, and other clinical research projects from Odense University Hospital and the University of Southern Denmark.
During the session, Camilla Hansen Nejstgaard presented an overview of our active consultancy projects, and we discussed opportunities to further strengthen and optimise the service.
A key focus this year was discussing how we can increase the value of our feedback on research protocols, helping researchers strengthen their projects from the earliest stages.
New publication from our centre.
In a random sample of 200 systematic reviews, more than half of the systematic reviews described using PRISMA 2020 outside its intended scope (e.g., to guide review conduct).
The researchers encourage systematic review authors to use reporting guidelines like PRISMA 2020 to guide reporting and to use more appropriate resources, such as the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis, for methodological guidance.
Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cesm.70095
When: 17 February 2026 from 11:00 to 12:00 (CET)
Where: Zoom
In this webinar, Prof. Martin G. Tolsgaard from the Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation (CAMES) will give a talk about research on medical education, artificial intelligence, and related methodological challenges.
