Table of Contents
Note: The term "Cochrane Reviews" is used to refer to both Cochrane Reviews and protocols for Cochrane Reviews. Policy statements included in this document are highlighted in bold, italic text. In this policy the term "Peer reviewer" describes someone who peer reviews a manuscript (previously referred to as a "Referee") and the term "review author" refers to the author of a Cochrane Review.
See policy statement on number and expertise of peer reviewers.
...
It may be necessary for authors of trials or studies included in a Cochrane Review (study authors) to be invited to be, for example, when the field is small and it is difficult to find peer reviewers with expertise in the field. This is acceptable as long as at least one other is external to the CRG editorial team and independent of any peer reviewer studies included in the review. The fact that a review author is an author of an included trial must be made clear in the conflict of interest statement, and the authors of the Cochrane Review should be made aware of this when receiving peer review comments.