MAG minutes, 14 November 2002

Minutes approved on 28 April 2003

Present: Mandy Collingwood, Monica Kjeldstrom, Sonja Henderson (Convenor), Kate Henshaw, Kate Hey, Rasmus Moustgaard, Reive Robb

In attendance: Claire Allen (minutes), Dave Booker (web master of the CC's web pages)

Apologies: Jane Dennis, Lois Sims, Phil Wiffen

Contents:
1. Welcome and apologies
2. Approval of agenda
3. Approval of minutes and matters arising from MAG meeting on 31 July 2002
4. Membership of MAG
5. Report of survey of commercial tracking products
6. ModMan 4.2 beta
7. ModMan Wish List
8. Additional validation checks
9. Feedback system for invalid email addresses for contact reviewers
10. Linking Cochrane reviews to more than one CRG
11. Withdrawn protocols and reviews
12. SR and HM codes
13. ModMan training
14. Modules on the web site
15. Update on the future plan for the IMSG
16. Date of next meeting

Welcome and apologies

Sonja welcomed everyone to the meeting particularly Kate Hey for whom this was the first meeting. Apologies had been received from Jane Dennis, Lois Sims and Phil Wiffen.

Approval of agenda

The agenda was approved with the addition of the item 'Modules on the web site'.

Approval of minutes and matters arising from MAG meeting on 31 July 2002

The minutes of the meeting held on 31 July 2002 were approved subject to the following amendment:

Item 8(b): It was agreed to remove TSCs from the first sentence, as this group is not represented on MAG.
Action: Sonja

Matters arising:

4.c: Item 8 (Citation of withdrawn publications in The Cochrane Library): Sonja reported that when protocols and reviews are withdrawn, they are cited as if they are full publications within the issue of The Cochrane Library in which they are withdrawn. The correct citation should be the previous issue of The Cochrane Library. Update Software had advised that this is a Publishing Policy Group (PPG) matter and Sonja will contact Mike Clarke, Convenor of the PPG.
Action: Sonja

5.a: Feedback from the Quality Improvement Manager: Sonja reported that Nancy's project deadline had been extended to 31 December 2002. Nancy had agreed to send a draft of the framework based on her findings to the MAG at the same time as to the Steering Group.
Action: Nancy

6.a: Tracking systems in current use: Monica agreed to contact the Group in Australia to find out about the web-based tracking system they are developing.
Action: Monica

7.a: IMSG recommendations to the Steering Group: Mandy agreed to contact the Group that had been identified as having differences in their editorial processes, compared with the Gynaecological Cancer Group to see if they could identify their editorial processes within the 'Specifications for a tracking system' document.
Action: Mandy

Membership of MAG

Reive circulated the discussion paper (which had been previously considered at the meetings held in December 2001 and July 2002). She stated that the purpose of this discussion paper was the preparation of an agreed membership statement.

Background section (page 1)

• Change the website reference to: http://www.cochrane-net.org/imsg.
• The number of RGCs should be '6' with the following in brackets: 'increased from 5 at the December 2001 meeting'.
• 'IMSG Convenor' should replace Steering Group (IMSG).

Action: Reive

Representation (page 4)

• It was agreed that at least one experienced RGC and one new RGC should be represented on the MAG. It was noted that a new RGC could be managing a large number of 'records' and it is also important to have representation from small and large groups. It was agreed that there should be at least one RGC who manages a large number of 'records' represented on MAG. Reive agreed to change the statement to 'An attempt will be made to ensure that all sizes of Groups are represented on the MAG'.
• Remove the words 'at the Colloquium' and change to 'At least one meeting will be held annually at a location most convenient to the attending members.'
• Change the document to reflect the agreement that the minimum number of MAG members for a meeting to take place is a simple majority of RGCs plus two other members i.e. five voting members.
• Sonja agreed to draw up a conflict of interest statement so that it is transparent which Groups MAG members represent. Rasmus agreed to add this to the MAG website. It was agreed that the item 'Conflict of Interest' would be added to agendas for future meetings.
• It was agreed that after the minutes of each MAG meeting have been provisionally approved, all RGCs will have the opportunity to comment before any recommendations are forwarded to the IMSG. Ideally, minutes should be provisionally approved within two weeks of each meeting.

Action: Reive, Sonja, Rasmus

Nomination/selection of members (page 5)

The wording should be changed to state that the Convenor is appointed by the IMSG. It was agreed that, in future, the Group would discuss the duties of the Convenor and the members. It was also agreed that if members were not meeting their obligations, then it is the responsibility of the Convenor to speak with them informally.
Action: Reive, Sonja

Tenure (page 6)

Discussion took place over what should be the length of term of office within the MAG. It was agreed that tenure would be three years, and that the caveat referring to a second term would be removed. At the end of each member's term, he/she would be eligible to stand for a second term. If a vacancy arose, the new member would serve until the expiry of the original member's term.
Action: Reive

General discussion

Reive agreed to prepare a membership statement after the module deadline on 20th November 2002, reflecting the discussion that took place. Monica agreed to look at the structure and remit document in light of the decisions made at this meeting.
Action: Reive, Monica

Resignation

Sonja extended thanks, on behalf of the Group, to Kate Henshaw who was resigning at the end of the meeting. Sonja agreed to send a message to RGCs, calling for volunteers to join the MAG, specifically targeting RGCs who had experience of dealing with a large number of 'records'. She also agreed to encourage the organisers of regional meetings of CRG staff, to discuss the ModMan software.
Action: Sonja

Report of survey of commercial tracking products

Monica reported that the second draft of the document about commercial tracking products, produced by the staff at the Oslo branch of the Nordic Cochrane Centre, had not been finalised. Monica agreed to ask Gro Alice to update the document. The updated document should be sent to MAG before being sent on to the IMSG. Thereafter, it would be published on the IMSG website.
Action: Monica, Rasmus

ModMan 4.2 beta

Sonja reported that she had received eight varying responses to her e-mail asking RGCs about their experiences of the ModMan 4.2 tracking function. Of the eight responses, three RGCs had reported that they were using ModMan 4.2 to help them track documents through the editorial process. Apart from the Infectious Diseases Group, tracking is either not a pressing issue for CRGs at the moment, or ModMan 4.2 meets their current needs. It was agreed, therefore, that ModMan 4.2 would be recommended by MAG as an interim tracking solution. Rasmus agreed to check the ModMan 'Wish List' to see whether some of the current requests could be incorporated, before fully releasing version 4.2. He advised that if the changes are straightforward, it should be possible to release ModMan 4.2 before the end of December 2002 without having to release another beta testing version. ModMan 4.2 would not be a mandatory release.
Action: Sonja, Rasmus

ModMan Wish List

Changes to the Wish List

ID No.	Description	New status
13	Titles in topics list	Approved (low priority)
14	Import module	Rejected (but Rasmus agreed to add a reminder about backing up)
15	Open text at proper heading	Recommended
16	Better printing of topics list	Approved
17	Select no. of levels to display in topics list	Approved
18	Colour coding reviews in exported topics list	Approved
19	Easy identification of linked reviews	Approved (high priority)

Rasmus agreed to include the high priority items in version 4.2.
Action: Rasmus

Additions to the Wish List

It was agreed to add the item 'Changing the order of sources of support'.
Action: Rasmus

Additional validation checks

It was agreed to include a validation check in ModMan 4.2 to ensure that all references are linked to the text. It was agreed that it would be helpful to have as many validation checks as possible in ModMan 4.2.
Action: Rasmus

Sources of support document

Monica reported that Update Software has announced that they will be removing the 'Sources of support' document from The Cochrane Library because it is out of date. Across reviews and modules, there are different styles for the same sources of support and it had been suggested that the style of sources of support should be more standardised, where possible. Discussions had taken place with the Secretariat about whether the document should be centrally checked for accuracy and consistency. Monica agreed to ask Jini to note whether there are common mistakes and send a list of such to RGCs and Harriet MacLehose (who is responsible for the Style Guide). Monica agreed to ask Jini to liaise with Rasmus who may be able to provide a semi-automatic feedback system.
Action: Monica

Feedback system for invalid email addresses for contact reviewers

Rasmus reported that the Secretariat maintains a reviewers e-mail discussion list, which is compiled from e-mail addresses taken from the contact reviewer details in the Parent Database each quarter.

He explained the problems of invalid or missing e-mail addresses within the contact reviewer details and it was agreed that there should be a validation check in ModMan and RevMan to check for such problems. In the meantime, Rasmus agreed to contact RGCs quarterly, alerting them to invalid or missing addresses within their modules.
Action: Rasmus

Linking Cochrane reviews to more than one CRG

Sonja explained that the Publishing Policy Group had discussed the issue of linking Cochrane reviews to more than one CRG and that this group supported that it should be possible to do this. The MAG had been asked to consider this request bearing in mind that there are two reasons for doing this: (1) to acknowledge that more then one CRG has had input in the preparation of a review, and (2) to point users of The Cochrane Library from one topic list to another if there is a review prepared by one group that overlaps with a topic in another group.

MAG agreed that it should be possible to link from the topics list to reviews/topics of other CRGs. As this is not possible within ModMan at the moment, it was agreed to add this functionality to the 'Wish List' for discussion at a future meeting. Rasmus pointed out that the linking would have to be through the unique review number, rather than manually created in the topics list.
Action: Rasmus, Sonja

Rasmus reported that in the new version of The Cochrane Library, it is possible to choose a topic and view all related reviews under that chosen topic. Reive pointed out that if MeSH headings were used for this purpose, Groups would have to assign subject headings.

Withdrawn protocols and reviews

Kate Henshaw raised the issue of the length of time a previously published protocol or review should remain withdrawn before it is deleted from The Cochrane Library. Mike Clarke had clarified the existing policy and Kate had posted his reply to the Adminors list. MAG agreed that this guidance should be included in The Cochrane Manual and ModMan User Guide. Sonja agreed to ask Mike Clarke where the policy came from, as concerns had been raised about the wording: "replacing the review with a version deemed to be acceptable by the CRG", as well as requesting that the advice be expanded. For example, there is no guidance on what information should be include in the withdrawal statement.
Action: Sonja

SR and HM codes

This item was deferred until a future meeting when a publisher representative is present. It was agreed that explanations of HM and SR codes should be available in The Cochrane Library, written by the publisher.
Action: Sonja

ModMan training

Sonja reported that June Cody had requested training for ModMan during the RGCs meeting taking place in March 2003. Mandy and Sonja agreed to discuss this request and contact June, who is responsible for co-ordinating the meeting.
Action: Sonja/Mandy

Modules on the web site

Dave reported that, as part of the new information management system, modules could appear on the website automatically. The existing software could also enable this through the Parent Database. It was agreed that modules should be uploaded automatically as it would be of particular help to newcomers to the Collaboration. Monica will be working with the Secretariat to contact all CRGs asking them for permission to publish their module to avoid copyright complications in the future. If CRGs use material from other sources, it will be their responsibility to obtain permission to publish it on the web site.
Action: Monica

Update on the future plan for the IMSG

Monica reported that at the IMSG meeting, the recommendations in the paper previously circulated would be finalised.

Contact database

Monica reported that the name and institutional address of people is not sensitive information so it is acceptable to include them in the restricted access contact database on the website. She reported the concern that there may still be people who do not wish their name and home address to be included, and the solution proposed was for there to be an option to have a hidden address.

In the proposed system, there will be one entity responsible for each person's contact details in the database, although ownership can be transferred. The person him/herself would also have edit rights. MAG members agreed that if a person had a role in more than one Group, each Group should be able to edit the record, but MAG recommended that an automatic notification should go to the other Groups of which the person is a member.
Action: Monica

Private information should be stored in the private notes field, and only be seen by the entity responsible for editing and the person him/herself. Monica advised that the default viewing address would be the institutional address.

Monica also advised that people with proper rights (e.g. individual reviewers) will not be able to download lists of addresses, emails etc, and sell or use them for non-Cochrane purposes.

Review database

Monica advised that all reviews would be stored, backed up and archived centrally. Only one person will be able to download a review at any one time.

RevMan 5 and the check in/check out system

Monica advised that a version number would identify a review each time it is downloaded from the new system. Concerns were raised about the possibility of being able to download parts of a review and work on that part, at the same time as another reviewer works on another part of the same review. It was agreed that Sonja would respond to the IMSG advising that the MAG did not recommend this option. She would also recommend that the wording from "but RevMan 5..." within the second text box (on page 7 of the documentation) should be removed.
Action: Sonja

Date of next meeting

To be arranged.