CRGs, Field/Networks and other have a Topics folder under Resources, and a Topics tab on the group's Properties. Super Users (or others with Max permissions for the group) can build a structured list of topics within the group's scope and link these topics to reviews. The Topics List includes draft and published reviews in all Stages – Vacant Titles, Registered Titles, Protocols, and Full Reviews – provided these have been linked to topics. Also, the review Stage shown reflects the Stage assigned in Archie and not necessarily the Stage of the most recent published version. Thus, a draft Full Review that has been submitted for editorial review but not yet published will display in the Topics List in Archie as a Full Review rather than a Protocol. When published in the Cochrane Library, however, the Topics List will include only the titles of published Protocols and Full Reviews and will display the Stage of the most recent published version.

Editing the Topics list

To add a new topic

  1. Locate the Topics List folder in Resources. Right-click the heading you wish the topic to appear under and choose New > Review Sub-topic.
  2. Enter a name for the topic and click OK. You may also include a Description, but this is entirely optional.

You can also Edit an existing topic, or reorder the list by moving topics up, down or to a another heading

To reorder a topic list

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Use the Up, Dn and Move buttons in the Topics tab of the Group Properties.
    • Use the Move Up, Move Done and Move options in the context menu in the Resources Tree by right clicking a particular topic.

To find a term in the topics list

  1. Open the group Properties and go to the Topics tab.
  2. Enter the term in the Find field and click  .
    The first occurrence found, if any, will be highlighted.
    Note: The first time you use the Find function it can take a while to process all the topics. To stop the searching, click  .  

To identify reviews not linked to topics

  1. Open the group Properties and go to the Topics tab.

  2. Click the [Number] of protocols or reviews not linked to a topic link below the topic list tree.
    Remember: Each review must be linked to at least one topic.

Linking reviews

Links between topics and reviews can be made either from a group's Topics list or from the Topics tab of a review's Properties.

To link to a review from the Topics list

 Tip: When you are linking to reviews from the Topics list, you will only be able to see the review titles, but no further details, so ensure you note beforehand exactly which review you wish to link to.

  1. Click the topic you wish to link the review to. Currently you can only link to the 'bottom-level' topics - i.e. those without subtopics.
  2. Click Link Review. The Select Document window opens.
  3. Find the review you wish to link to. See Choosing a person, document or date.
  4. Click Select. The review is listed under the topic.

To link to a topic from a review

  1. Open the review's Properties and go to the Topics tab
  2. Click Select The Review Topics window opens.
  3. If you have permission to work with topics in more than one group, pick the group from the pull-down list. Most users will not need to do this.
  4. Navigate through the topics tree and click the topic you wish to link the review to.
  5. Click Select.

Finding unlinked reviews

The Reviews Without Topics report lists, on a per-CRG basis, all protocols or reviews that are not linked to any topics. To open the report right-click your group, and choose Reports > Topics > Reviews Without Topics.  

Viewing the Topics list

Your Topics list can be viewed as one of the Reports available for your group. To do so, right-click your group and choose Reports > Topics List. In addition to the usual options for the document viewer (see Viewing documents), the report itself also includes a number of options unique to the topics list, such as Show Reviews, Show Authors, and Show Links To the Cochrane Library.
When viewed in Archie, the list includes all review stages (so it reflects what is in Archie), but when published it will only include the titles of published protocols and reviews.
The Topics list can also be viewed in Meerkat format, which is a plain text format that can be saved and imported  into the Meerkat software.

Publication of the Topics list

On the submission deadline, each CRG Topics lists is automatically submitted in its current state. Unlike reviews, there is no need to mark it for publication.

 Note: The Topics list for Fields/Networks are not yet being published.

It is possible to create links to reviews regardless of their publication status, but the Topics lists published in the Cochrane Library will only list the published reviews.