The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews uses RightsLink®, the automated, online permissions clearing system from the Copyright Clearance Center. Requests to re-use or republish figures, tables, extracts and entire reviews can now be cleared online and a license providing details of the permission and the terms and conditions of the re-use is available for immediate download.
For more information, visit the Cochrane Library permissions and reprints webpage.
Authors/copyright owners of Cochrane Reviews
Authors have a number of rights in return for signing the Licence for Publication form. These are described in the Licence for Publication form.
Inclusion of a Cochrane Review or protocol for a Cochrane Review in a thesis or dissertation
Published version
If published, the author can requests permission to include the Cochrane Review or protocol for the Cochrane Review, in whole or in part, by clicking on the ‘Request permissions’ link alongside the published article in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (www.cochranelibrary.com).
Unpublished version
If the Cochrane Protocol or Review is still being prepared and one of the authors wishes to include it in whole or in part, then the author(s) may include it as long as the following is included in the dissertation/thesis:
"This is a draft and [pre-peer review/post-peer review] version of a [protocol for a Cochrane Review/Cochrane Review]. Upon completion and approval, the final version is expected to be published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (www.cochranelibrary.com)."
Cochrane Groups (including Cochrane Review Groups): Abstracts and Plain language summaries
Registered Cochrane groups (Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs) and other Cochrane groups) are entitled, without contacting the publisher, to re-publish on CRG and other Cochrane Group websites, in email, or other Cochrane-related alerting services:
- Plain language summaries and abstracts (and translations thereof, where these are available) of Cochrane Reviews published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.