Announcements
23 May 2018 Information about search and browse issues in the Cochrane Library:
1st December 2017 until new Cochrane Library is released
Customer feedback on the functionality of the Cochrane Library is welcomed; see information on how to contact Wiley customer services. Wiley and Cochrane monitor the feedback, and from time to time, significant issues are raised.
There remains an issue, at the moment that particularly impacts users, including the Cochrane community, and we are providing a summary of the issue. Should you have any questions or concerns about these, please do contact David Hives, Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley (dhives@wiley.com).
1. Search index problem for some Cochrane Reviews
Summary of the issue: There is a search index problem on the Cochrane Library, affecting some Cochrane Reviews (not CENTRAL records) published since April 2017 or any that have a 3-digit year date instead of a 4-digit year date. This results in some newly published reviews and protocols in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) not being returned in search results and/or the links go older versions of the article. All Cochrane Reviews and protocols are available via the browse options or via the table of contents.
Impact: The estimated impact is 1 in 4 Cochrane Reviews/protocols. This will continue as articles are published containing any reference with a date format other than 4-digit year YYYY.
Cause: Changes were made to data format for Cochrane Reviews and protocols to prepare for the move to the new Cochrane Library platform. An unanticipated effect has been that this change in the date formats for new articles means that articles with anything other than 4-digit years in the text (eg. YYYY, 1999) are not being indexed by search. Unfortunately, we had not anticipated this lack of synchronization with XML year formats and there are no satisfactory solutions at either the source or via the systems at this point to allow the formats to run in parallel.
Workaround: We are advising users to click on the “View current version” link to get to the latest version, if directed to an older version from the search. Some protocols do not have a previous version so users need to use links via browse or the table of contents in the Cochrane Library. The articles continue to be indexed (eg. PubMed) and are also available via https://dx.doi.org/ and search for the article DOI (e.g. 10.1002/14651858.CDXXXXXX).
Resolution: We are pleased to report that with the launch of the new Cochrane Library website and platform this issue will no longer be present. Unfortunately, until that time the issue is unresolved. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do contact David Hives, Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley (dhives@wiley.com).
2. Review group filter not finding all reviews
Summary of the issue: There is an issue with the Search Limit “By Review Group” in the Advanced Search of the Cochrane Library. It is linked to the above indexing issue and this means that new citation versions of Cochrane Reviews and protocols (not CENTRAL records) will not be found using a Review Group Search Limit.
Impact: At this time, approximately 25% of the Cochrane Reviews and protocols cannot be found with a limit to Cochrane Review Group but this will continue to grow as new articles are added and existing articles are updated.
Cause: Changes were made to data format for Cochrane Reviews and protocols to prepare for the move to the new Cochrane Library platform. An unanticipated effect has been that this change in the review group tagging for the new articles has meant that the search limit for review group was no longer able to identify the review group for these articles only. Reviews and protocols published with the original tagging (prior to 2017) are unaffected and are still identified via the search limit.
Workaround: Cochrane Reviews and protocols published by each Cochrane Review Group can be located via the “Browse by Review Group feature: http://www.cochranelibrary.com/home/topic-and-review-group-list.html?page=editorial-group.
Resolution: We are pleased to report that with the launch of the new Cochrane Library website and platform this issue will no longer be present. Unfortunately, until that time the issue is unresolved. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do contact David Hives, Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley (dhives@wiley.com).
3. ‘New’ tag removed for CENTRAL records (RESOLVED)
Summary of the issue: With the publication of Issue 10, 2017 (31 October 2017), saw that it was not possible to use the ‘New’ filter in Advanced Search for CENTRAL records (other databases in the Cochrane Library were not affected).
Impact: The impact of the filter not working was that it is not possible to limit search results to records that were newly added to CENTRAL in Issue 10, October 2017.
Cause: This occurred as an unintended consequence of data changes that were required for the new Cochrane Library platform.
Workaround: There was no workaround for Issue 10, October 2017 of CENTRAL.
Resolution: The technical teams worked on a resolution and we can report the successful load of CENTRAL Issue 11, on 30 November 2017, with the reinstatement of the NEW status tag. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do contact David Hives, Cochrane Production Manager, Wiley (dhives@wiley.com).
DOI linking issues : 19th March 2018 - RESOLVED
On the 17th and 18th March the Wiley Online Library migrated to Cochrane Only Wiley Online Library, due to the Wiley release of a new platform. This migration resulted in an issue with doi linking to content within the Cochrane Library. If a doi was used with https://dx.doi.org/ then the link would fail to redirect to the correct content on the Cochrane Library. Users were able to access the reviews , editorial or cochrane clinical answers from within the library by going to www.cochranelibrary.com and searching for the CD number, or the title in the search function.
Preparation for Enhanced Cochrane Library: 24 February 2018
Saturday 24th February, marks the start of some new and exciting developments for the Cochrane Library. You may notice some subtle differences in the way the Cochrane Library is provided, for example in the address bar of your browser, there is a different URL. Further updates will be provided here in the forthcoming weeks during the development phase and we will confirm a launch date for the Cochrane Library nearer the time. If you have any concerns about your access or the functionality of the Cochrane Library, please contact (cs-cochrane@wiley.com). Your Wiley login will continue to work but look out for future communications on forthcoming changes to your account and other new features. Further updates regarding the full launch of the Enhanced Cochrane Library will be announced as soon as possible.
For EZproxy users, please see here for more information on changing your stanzas: https://www.oclc.org/support/services/ezproxy/documentation/db/cochrane.en.html
20th & 21st January extended downtime
Please be advised that we experienced an unexpected issue that occurred on Saturday and Sunday January 20th and 21st that caused the site to be down for an extended period of time and affected the ability of users to access content on Wiley Online Library. This issue has now been fully resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and are working to ensure that we can alert you immediately of any unplanned periods of downtime or disruption in the future.
Known issues updated 29 November 2017
Intermittent performance
Monitoring of the performance, in rendering content from the Cochrane Library, has shown a series of intermittent spikes in support server accessing. The support team is monitoring the situation, and looking at interim/permanent solutions which can be applied, without further interruption to the user experience.
Users may experience intermittent slow performance in the Cochrane Library.
We ask users to report the issue is performance is unacceptable, detailing:
- Full name:
- Institution contact address (as applicable)
- Email address contact point
- Browser include version
- System platform (e.g. PC, Mac, smartphone)
- A full description of the incident, including what page you were on (include URL)
- What time this event occurred
- How long it took to render the page desired
- Ideally, we would appreciate screenshots, too, so that we can visually clarify your description
If you can include this in an email to the customer support team with the title 'Cochrane', this will help the support team prioritise your case.
For institutional users and Cochrane complimentary access, please contact salessupport@wiley.com
All other users should report performance issues, including images, to cs-cochrane@wiley.com.
Next scheduled maintenance
Saturday 17th March 2018
Cochrane Library, and the Wiley Online Library, undergoes scheduled maintenance for releases and upgrades.
During such periods, no updates to the content of the Cochrane Library website are made. Cochrane Reviews and Protocols continue to be published and are searchable as the site is released with additional functionality, including changes to the homepage for improved user engagement and user experience.
Why is there downtime for maintenance?
Due to the nature of technology and its development, it has become standard practice throughout many organisations to have regular, scheduled, updates to systems. By taking this approach, there is a reduced risk to functionality and other systems. Users can also plan to avoid usage during these maintenance periods. The date above indicates an expectation of scheduled maintenance that may disrupt access and functionality of the Cochrane Library. The standard schedule for developer activities commences at 10am (UK Time), and will continue for 2 hours, although this is subject to change. Notifications of the expected downtime will be sent out in the week prior to the expected downtime to users on the Cochrane 'lists' (TSCs, MEs and Cochrane Library User Group).