The Cochrane Library –
Free Access for All Australians

Access to the world’s most respected online health database is now available to anyone in Australia, giving practitioners the latest information and clinical trial reviews. The Library is available free to all Australians who have Internet access.

The Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, officially launched the national license to provide open access to the full Cochrane Library at the 3rd Annual Meeting for Australasian Contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration. The National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS), Australia’s national agency for closing the gaps between evidence and practice in healthcare, successfully negotiated the license on behalf of the Australian Government.

The international Cochrane Collaboration was founded in 1993. Two years later the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews was launched. Almost all clinical trials undertaken in the world are now on the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, which includes over 350,000 studies. But less than 10 per cent of these controlled trials have been incorporated into Cochrane reviews. The first trial was undertaken in 1948 and there are now 20,000 trials done each year.

From October 18, 2002 open national access to the Cochrane Library was available to all Australians with an Australian IP address via: www.update-software.com/clibng/cliblogon.htm

Further information may be obtained at:

National Institute of Clinical Studies – www.nicsl.com.au Australasian Cochrane Centre – www.cochrane.org.au