Validation report
Validation errors and warnings are only relevant to Cochrane authors submitting reviews to Cochrane. RevMan subscribers can disregard validation errors and warnings.
Validation report
The validation report shows you discrepancies between your review and Cochrane standards for a review.
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 checked, with reference to editorial policy as required.
You can see validation errors and warnings relevant to your review on the Dashboard. Expand or collapse the Validation menu to view further details.
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.
Validation rules
Validation errors and warnings are generated dynamically depending on the specific content of the review, and so the below list is not exhaustive - rules not in this list may still apply.
| Type | Section | Validation rule | Review stage | Description |
1 | Error | Abstract | Abstract cannot exceed 1000 words. | R | The abstract cannot be longer than 1000 words (word count: [count]) |
2 | Error | Figures | Figure should be linked from text. | P + R | Figure is not linked from the text. |
3 | Error | Additional table | Table should be linked from the text. | P + R | Table is not linked from the text. |
4 | Error | Analysis | An active choice of labels for graph axes is required. | R | The default graph label 'Favours [experimental]' must be changed. |
5 | Error | Dates | Date of Search cannot be empty. | R | Date of search is empty. |
6 | Error | Plain language summary | Summary cannot exceed 850 words. | R | The plain language summary cannot be longer than 850 words (word count: [count]) |
7 | Error | Published notes | Cannot be empty for withdrawn reviews. | P+R | Published notes do not contain the reason for withdrawal. Provide a brief explanation of why the review was retracted. See Withdrawing articles published in the CDSR. |
8 | Error | Summary title | Default text '[Summary title]' should be modified. | R | The plain language summary title is empty. |
9 | Error | Analysis | Synthesis PICO not completed. | P+R | Synthesis PICO is not completed. The review cannot be checked in until outcome and interventions have been specified. |
10 | Error | What's new | Section cannot be empty unless protocol or review is new. See also What’s new events. | P+R | What's new is empty. |
12 | Error | Differences between the protocol and review | Field cannot be empty. | R | Differences between protocol and review is empty. |
13 | Error | Main text sections | Mandatory text sections (depending on stage) cannot be empty. See full list of validation of text sections below. | P+R | [Section] is empty. |
14 | Error | Event | Only events relevant to the current stage are allowed. | P+R | Event is not allowed at [Protocol/Full review] stage. |
15 | Error | Event | Description cannot be empty. | P + R | Description is empty. |
16 | Error | Dates | Date of Search cannot be in the future. | R | Date of Search is in the future. |
17 | Error | Dichotomous study data | Events <= Total | R | The number of events cannot be larger than the number of totals. |
18 | Error | What's new | Section cannot include more than one New citation event. See also What’s new events. | P + R | More than one declaration event ('New citation' or 'No longer being updated'). |
19 | Error | Event | Withdrawn reviews only support Amended events. | R | Withdrawn reviews only support Amended events. |
20 | Error | What's new | If an Updated event is present, there must be a New citation event. See also What’s new events. | R | An updated event is present without declaring a new citation. |
21 | Error | Dates | Assessed as Up-to-date cannot be empty. | R | Assessed as Up-to-date is empty. |
22 | Error | Included study, Excluded study | Study should have at least one reference. | R | If a Study ID is inserted in the References to studies section, a reference must be added |
23 | Error | Included study | All included studies must be cited in the main article. | R | Included study not cited in the main article, including additional tables. |
24 | Error | Dates | Assessed as Up-to-date cannot be in the future. | R | Assessed as Up-to-date is in the future. |
34 | Error | Reference | All fields should not be empty at the same time. | P+R | Reference is empty. |
35 | Error | Reference | Required fields should not be empty. | P+R | [Field name] is empty. |
36 | Error | What's new | If a New citation event is present, there should usually also be an Updated event. See also What’s new events. | R | A new citation is declared without the review being updated |
25 | Warning | Studies | All fields in study characteristics should not be empty at the same time. | R | Study characteristics are missing. |
26 | Warning | Additional reference | Reference should be linked from the text. | P+R | Reference is not linked from the text. |
27 | Warning | Figures | The recommended Number of figures has been exceeded. | P+R | The recommended maximum number of figures (6) has been exceeded - please remove [n]. |
28 | Warning | Figures | Other figures must contain an image file. | P+R | No file uploaded for figure [n] |
29 | Warning | Figures | Other figures should be more than 500 pixels wide | P+R | Other figures should be more than 500 pixels wide |
37 | Warning | Cochrane review reference, Cochrane protocol reference | The DOI identifier should be specified correct. | P + R | DOI should be corrected according to these examples: 10.1002/14651858.CD123456 or 10.1002/14651858.CD123456.pub2 |
38 | Warning | Cochrane review reference, Cochrane protocol reference | SO field should be 'Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews'. | P + R | Journal/Book/Source should be Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. |
39 | Warning | Cochrane review reference, Cochrane protocol reference | Should have DOI identifier. | P + R | DOI is missing. |
40 | Warning | Comparison | Should not have empty analyses. | R | One or more analyses have no associated study data. |
41 | Warning | Inverse variance analyses or subgroup | Option to enter number of participants has been selected, but no data have been entered for any studies. | R | The option to enter number of participants has been selected, but no data have been entered. |
42 | Warning | Other data type analyses | No column heading should be empty. | R | One of the column headings is empty. |
43 | Warning | Date of search | The latest search should have been conducted fewer than 12 months | R | The latest search should have been conducted fewer than 12 months before submission. See Cochrane Handbook. |
44 | Warning | Sources of support | Section could not be empty. | P+R | No sources of support listed. |
R= Full Review stage
P= Protocol stage
Validation of empty text sections
The intervention review template aids authors in what to report where to ensure compliance with PRISMA and will improve consistency across Cochrane reviews for reader. The following table shows validation of empty text sections in both the focused and the long review formats. It also shows how review headings have changed, indicating where text has moved to if a section has been removed in switching to the focused review format.
High level headings that do not have a corresponding text field and therefore do not need to be validated are highlighted in light blue.
Flexible reviews
In the 'Text' section of flexible reviews only the Heading 1 (H1) level is displayed. Sub-headings can be created by authors from the formatting toolbar. See Add or adjust subheadings.
Level 1 heading | H1 |
Level 2 heading | H2 |
Level 3 heading | H3 |
Level 4 heading | H4 |
Focused review format | Focused format validation Error = section cannot be empty Warning or No validation = optional but check template for reporting guidance | Long review format | Long format validation Error = section cannot be empty Warning or No validation = optional but check template for reporting guidance |
---|---|---|---|
(H1) Title | (H1) Title | ||
(H1) Abstract | (H1) Abstract | ||
(H2) Rationale | Error | (H2) Background | Error |
(H2) Objectives | Error | (H2) Objectives | Error |
(H2) Search methods | Error | (H2) Search methods | Error |
(H2) Eligibility criteria | Error | (H2) Selection criteria | Error |
(H2) Outcomes | Error | ||
(H2) Risk of bias | Error | ||
(H2) Synthesis methods | Error | (H2) Data collection and analysis | Error |
(H2) Included studies | Error | ||
(H2) Synthesis of results | Error | (H2) Main results | Error |
(H2) Authors' conclusions | Error | (H2) Authors' conclusions | Error |
(H2) Funding (all review types) | Error | ||
(H2) Registration (all review types) | Error | ||
(H1) Plain language summary | Error | (H1) Plain language summary | Error |
(H1) Plain language summary title | Error | (H1) Plain language summary title | No validation |
Key messages | No validation | Key messages | No validation |
Tailored heading: e.g. What is epilepsy? | No validation | Tailored heading: e.g. What is epilepsy? | No validation |
Optional tailored heading: e.g. How is epilepsy treated? | No validation | Optional tailored heading: e.g. How is epilepsy treated? | No validation |
What did we want to find out? | No validation | What did we want to find out? | No validation |
What did we do? | No validation | What did we do? | No validation |
What did we find? | No validation | What did we find? | No validation |
Main results | No validation | Optional heading: Main results | No validation |
What are the limitations of the evidence? | No validation | What are the limitations of the evidence? | No validation |
How up to date is this evidence? | No validation | How up to date is this evidence? | No validation |
(H1) Summary of findings | No validation | (H1) Summary of findings | No validation |
Summary of findings tables | Summary of findings tables | No validation | |
(H1) Background | No validation | (H1) Background | No validation |
(H2) Description of the condition | Warning | (H2) Description of the condition | Warning |
(H2) Description of the intervention and how it might work | Warning | (H2) Description of the intervention | Warning |
(H2) How the intervention might work (text moved to ‘Description of the intervention and how it might work’ section in focused format) | Warning | ||
(H2) Why it is important to do this review | Error | (H2) Why it is important to do this review | Warning |
(H1) Objectives | No validation | (H1) Objectives | Error |
(H1) Methods | No validation | (H1) Methods | |
(H2) Criteria for considering studies for this review | Error | (H2) Criteria for considering studies for this review | No validation |
(H3) Types of studies | Error | (H3) Types of studies | Error |
(H3) Types of participants | Error | (H3) Types of participants | Error |
(H3) Types of interventions | Error | (H3) Types of interventions | Error |
(H2) Outcome measures | Error | (H3) Types of outcome measures | Warning |
(H3) Critical outcomes | Error | (H4) Primary outcomes | Warning |
(H3) Important outcomes | Error | (H4) Secondary outcomes | Warning |
(H2) Search methods for identification of studies | Error | (H2) Search methods for identification of studies | No validation |
(H3) Electronic searches | Error | (H3) Electronic searches | Error |
(H3) Searching other resources | Error | (H3) Searching other resources | Error |
(H2) Data collection and analysis | No validation | (H2) Data collection and analysis | |
(H3) Selection of studies | Error | (H3) Selection of studies | Error |
(H3) Data extraction and management | Error | (H3) Data extraction and management | Error |
(H3) Risk of bias assessment in included studies | Error | (H3) Assessment of risk of bias in included studies | Error |
(H3) Measures of treatment effect | Error | (H3) Measures of treatment effect | Error |
(H3) Unit of analysis issues | Error | (H3) Unit of analysis issues | Error |
(H3) Dealing with missing data | Error | (H3) Dealing with missing data | Error |
(H3) Assessment of heterogeneity (text moved to ‘Synthesis methods’ section in focused format) | Error | ||
(H3) Reporting bias assessment | Error | (H3) Assessment of reporting biases | Error |
(H3) Synthesis methods | Error | (H3) Data synthesis | Error |
(H3) Investigation of heterogeneity and subgroup analysis | Error | (H3) Subgroup analysis and investigation of heterogeneity | Error |
(H4) Equity-related assessment | Error | ||
(H3) Sensitivity analysis | Error | (H3) Sensitivity analysis | Error |
(H3) Certainty of the evidence assessment (L3) | Error | (H3) Summary of findings and assessment of the certainty of the evidence | Error |
(H2) Consumer involvement | Error | ||
(H1) Results | No validation | (H1) Results | |
(H2) Description of studies | No validation | (H2) Description of studies | Warning |
(H3) Results of the search | Error | (H3) Results of the search | Error |
(H3) Included studies | Error | (H3) Included studies | Error |
(H3) Excluded studies | Error | (H3) Excluded studies | Error |
(H2) Risk of bias in included studies | No validation | (H2) Risk of bias in included studies | Error |
(H3) Allocation (selection bias) | Error if 'Risk of bias in included studies' section is empty | ||
(H3) Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) | Error if 'Risk of bias in included studies' section is empty | ||
(H3) Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) | Error if 'Risk of bias in included studies' section is empty | ||
(H3) Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Error if 'Risk of bias in included studies' section is empty | ||
(H3) Other potential sources of bias | Error if 'Risk of bias in included studies' section is empty | ||
(H2) Synthesis of results | Error | (H2) Effects of interventions | Error |
(H3) Equity assessment | No validation | ||
(H3) Reporting biases | No validation | ||
(H1) Discussion | No validation | (H1) Discussion | |
(H2) Summary of main results | Error | (H2) Summary of main results | Error |
(H2) Limitations of the evidence included in the review | Error | (H2) Overall completeness and applicability of evidence | Error |
(H2) Quality of the evidence (text moved to ‘Limitations of the evidence included in the review’ section in focused format) | Warning | ||
(H2) Limitations of the review processes | Error | (H2) Potential biases in the review process | Error |
(H2) Agreements and disagreements with other studies or reviews | Error | (H2) Agreements and disagreements with other studies or reviews | Error |
(H1) Authors' conclusions | No validation | (H1) Authors' conclusions | |
(H2) Implications for practice | Error | (H2) Implications for practice | Error |
(H3) Equity-related implications for practice | No validation | ||
(H2) Implications for research | Error | (H2) Implications for research | Error |
(H3) Equity-related implications for research | No validation | ||
(H1) Supplementary materials (all review types) | No validation | (H1) Appendices | No validation |
All supplementary materials listed | |||
(H1) Additional information | No validation | (H1) Additional information | No validation |
(H2) Acknowledgements | Error | (H2) Acknowledgements | Error |
(H2) Contributions of authors | Error | (H2) Contributions of authors | Error |
(H2) Declarations of interest | Error | (H2) Declarations of interest | No validation |
(H2) Sources of support | Error | (H2) Sources of support | No validation |
(H2) Differences between protocol and review (text moved to ‘Methods’ section in focused format) | Error | ||
(H2) Registration and protocol (all review types) | Error | ||
(H2) Data, code and other materials (all review types) | Error | ||
(H2) Published notes | No validation | (H2) Published notes | No validation |
(H2) What's new | Error | (H2) What's new | No validation |
(H2) History | No validation | (H2) History | No validation |
(H1) References | (H1) References | ||
| (H2) References to studies included in this review | No validation | |
| (H2) References to studies excluded from this review | No validation | |
| (H2) References to studies awaiting assessment | No validation | |
| (H2) References to ongoing studies | No validation | |
| (H2) Additional references | No validation | |
| (H2) References to other published versions of this review | No validation | |
(H1) Figures | No validation | (H1) Figures | No validation |
(H1) Tables (all review types) | No validation | (H1) Additional tables | No validation |