Most Cochrane members will have felt at best uneasy about the recent events in Cochrane. We also felt uncomfortable and wondered what caused our feelings. The biggest problem we felt was the lack of transparency. Who had been doing what? Who makes the decisions in Cochrane? What can I do as a member of a Cochrane Centre or a Review Group? Many questions were also triggered by the statement of the Governing Board that there will be ‘zero tolerance for bad behaviour’. We fear this will easily lead to ‘zero tolerance for different opinions’.

We are all members of Cochrane because we believe that evidence-based health care is an important asset for public health. Evidence that can be trusted is what we all want to create. We believe that the lack of transparency and trust which we experience at the moment is detrimental to Cochrane and we have to do something about it.

There are four major policy issues that we would like to improve.

• Create a culture of open discussion
• Refocus on the heart of Cochrane
• Increase the involvement of Cochrane members
• Find a better business model for Cochrane

Read the full text explaining these four points at: https://cochranemembers.org/.

When signing, please indicate in your comments if you are a Cochrane member and if you have additional concerns. Or if you disagree with this petition and don't want to sign it, please explain why by submitting a comment at: https://cochranemembers.org/.

By signing this petition we all want to express our support of these four points as key areas of development in Cochrane.

This action was initiated by:

1. Jos Verbeek, Coordinating Editor, Cochrane Work
2. Gerd Antes, former Director, Cochrane Germany
3. Matteo Bruschettini, Director, Cochrane Sweden
4. Jani Ruotsalainen, Managing Editor, Cochrane Work
5. Chris Del Mar, Coordinating Editor, Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections
6. Mark Jones, Centre for Research in Evidence-Based Practice (CREBP), Bond University, Australia
7. Caroline Struthers, UK EQUATOR Centre, University of Oxford
8. Lotty Hooft, Director, Cochrane Netherlands
9. Tianjing Li, Co-ordinating Editor, (US Satellite) Eyes and Vision
10. Gerald Gartlehner, Director, Cochrane Austria
11. Nicole Skoetz, Senior Editor, Cochrane Cancer
12. Barbara Nußbaumer-Streit, Associate Director, Cochrane Austria
13. Nancy Santesso, Deputy Director, Cochrane Canada
14. Philipp Dahm, Coordinating Editor, Cochrane Urology
15. Malgorzata Bala, Director, Cochrane Poland
16. Joerg Meerpohl, Director, Cochrane Germany