Validation report

The validation report shows you discrepancies between your review and Cochrane standards for a review.

You can see validation errors and warnings relevant to your review on the Dashboard. Expand or collapse the Validation menu to view further details.

These can be defined as Errors or Warnings. Errors MUST be addressed before submission, as you will not be able to submit your Cochrane Review to Editorial Manager with errors present. 

 All warnings should also be reviewed, with reference to editorial policy as required. You can mark warnings as considered and add a note describing the rationale. Always check against the relevant guidance or consult your editor before marking warnings as considered.

In Intervention and flexible reviews, validation errors and warnings are also visible in the right-hand Context pane. Use the links to navigate to the next issue you need to address. 

Warnings and errors for empty text sections by review type

Leaving text sections empty may result in an error or warning appearing in the RevMan validation report. An error indicates that the section cannot be left empty, whereas a warning or no validation means that the text section is optional. However, it is always recommended that you check the relevant guidance or consult your editor before marking any warning as considered. 

Select the review type from the list below to view the relevant guidance on the validation rules for empty text sections:

• Intervention review type
• Diagnostic Test Accuracy (DTA) review type
• Methodology review type
• Overview review type 

Please note that changing subheadings will remove all links to the text sections that have been modified. Any broken links will be clearly highlighted in the text, allowing authors to easily identify and remove or replace them. Read further information at Check linking within the review.

'Equity considerations’ and ‘Consumer involvement’ sections  

DTA, Methodology, Overview, QES, and Prognosis reviews include sections on 'equity considerations' and 'consumer involvement.' When completing these sections for protocols and reviews, authors should refer to the guidance available in the intervention review template for these sections.