Editing supplementary materials

Supplementary materials are generated for Cochrane Reviews from RevMan. Most are automatically generated from what is included in the Data section of RevMan.

See further guidance on Supplementary materials.

All references cited in the main article should be included in the main article's reference list. Please avoid citing references in supplementary materials only. If references are cited in a supplementary material only, the reference (be that a list or footnote) should be contained in that supplementary material.


Search strategies and other supplementary materials

Search strategies and other supplementary materials are editable in the Contents section in RevMan. 


Other supplementary materials 

Authors can include other supplementary materials that contain additional data and information that support or enhance the article. 

To add other supplementary materials, go to Contents > Other supplementary materials from the left-hand menu, then select Add supplementary material to type or copy content into RevMan.

Please use clear, intelligible titles for any Other supplementary materials. Final decisions about whether they are suitable for inclusion rests with the editor. 

It is not possible to attach files as supplementary materials. If you wish readers to view information stored in an external file or dataset, please see the guidance at External data and files.


Edit Characteristics of studies 

See Characteristics of studies.


Footnotes in Characteristics of studies tables

Footnotes (e.g. for codes or abbreviations) in Characteristics of studies tables can be added in either Default view or Full Text. 

In Default view, select to edit an individual study and add footnotes for abbreviations. The footnotes will appear below every study of the same type, e.g. an abbreviation footnote added to an excluded study, will appear below every study in the Characteristics of Excluded studies table.  


In Full Text view, select Characteristics of studies on the left-hand side menu. In each Characteristics of studies table (Included, Excluded, Ongoing, Awaiting Classification) there is a 'Footnotes (shared)' text field for every study, where you can add your footnotes. The footnotes will appear below every study in the table. 

All shared footnotes will appear together at the end of the list of studies in the published review.