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Up to 16 December 2014, withdrawn protocols were removed from the CDSR after one issue of publication. From this date onwards, withdrawn protocols remain published to maintain the public record of publication and to complement the inclusion in PROSPERO.

Published Cochrane Reviews (including protocols) are not removed from the CDSR when they are retracted or archived using the “withdrawn” publishing event. (Up to 16 December 2014, withdrawn protocols were removed from the CDSR after one issue of publication. From this date onwards, withdrawn protocols remain published to maintain the public record of publication and to complement the inclusion of protocols in PROSPERO[change link to point to EPPR Prospero].) A Cochrane Review may be retracted temporarily (suspended) and then republished once it is considered satisfactory by the authors, the CRG's editorial team, and the Editor in Chief; otherwise it will remain retracted. Published versions that precede a retracted/archived version are available in the CDSR by clicking on the ‘Other versions’ tab in the article.

The publication of a retraction (withdrawn) statement generates a new citation version. For Cochrane Reviews, this includes a new entry in PubMed.

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Display of published withdrawn articles

Published 'withdrawn' Cochrane Review or protocol for a Cochrane Review

When a protocol or review is withdrawn, it will be flagged in the published version in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) as ‘withdrawn’.

Published Cochrane Reviews (including protocols) are not removed from the CDSR. Published versions that precede a withdrawn version are available via the 'History' section of the Cochrane Review.

The following information is included in the withdrawn version:

• Reason for withdrawing the protocol/review (as inserted in the “Published Notes” section in the RevMan file), preceded by "Reason for withdrawal from publication".
• Standard publication information: title, authors (as listed on previous citation version), citation, DOI, publication date, editorial group name, Sources of support (as listed on previous citation version), and publishing events (What’s new and History).
• The following text is inserted automatically at the end of the “Reason for withdrawing this protocol/review” text: “The editorial group responsible for this previously published document have withdrawn it from publication.”
• Citations for the withdrawn version, as available via Crossref Cited-by Linking.
• Published versions that precede a withdrawn version are available in the CDSR by clicking on the ‘Version History’ tab in the article.

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PubMed record

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for a 'withdrawn' Cochrane Review

• Article title preceded by "WITHDRAWN:".
• Abstract of the version that has been withdrawn.

Steps to withdraw a Cochrane Review

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