This section describes how to use the Conflicts of Interest forms from a CRG perspective. For information on how to use the forms as an author, see Instructions for authors: Conflicts of Interest forms.

Authors can complete a Conflicts of Interest form (based on the ICMJE form) through Archie. The forms are stored and managed within Archie, and authors can only access their own personal form, controlled through their Archie user name and password. Authors will typically interact with the Conflicts of Interest forms in response to emails sent from Archie. The forms can be managed by Super Users and others with the 'Max' permission level for reviews.

The forms contain auto-completed fields (e.g., the review's Contact person), which are continuously updated throughout the review development cycle.
Note: The full title of the form is "Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest", but the shorter name is used in the user interface and in this Help User Guide.

Reviewing status

You can check the form completion status in the Conflicts of Interest forms report, which shows the status for each author.

To open the Conflicts of Interest forms report

  1. Right-click the review and choose Reports > Conflicts of Interest Forms.

Informing authors

The first step in getting authors to complete their forms is to send each author an email with a link to the form. These emails can be sent to all authors through the Conflicts of Interest forms report.
If there are authors without an Archie account, you must set up the user account before sending the emails using the Conflicts of Interest Forms report.

Tip: You can click the '(not user)' link to open the window for creating a user account for that person.

To send information or reminder emails to authors from the report

  1. Open the report and click Inform All. Email reminders are sent to all authors who still need to submit their forms.
  2. Click Ok.   
    Tip: If an author does not receive the 'Cochrane Review - Conflicts of Interest form required' email from Archie, even after repeated attempts, you can direct the author to log in to Archie and access the form through the Conflicts of Interest Forms report. Alternatively, you can open the author's form, copy the form URL from the address field at the top of the window, and send it through your own email system.

Once more than one information email has been sent, the Informed column in the report will show the count - e.g. "(3 times)".

In cases where authors have already submitted their forms, but you now think it is appropriate for them to revisit the from, you can click Resend to reactivate the form and send a new email, which includes the text: " As an author on the Cochrane review '[review title]', you need to review the Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest form that you submitted earlier."

Completing forms on behalf of authors

Unlike the Licence for publication forms, editorial base staff are not expected to occasionally complete a Conflicts of Interest form on behalf of an author. However, should some unforeseen need for this arise, MEs or Super Users can choose to do so.