The Governing Board met in March, May and July. There is a summary of the main items covered at each meeting below. Future updates from the Governing Board will be shared in a dedicated area of the new Cochrane Resources website, which will replace Cochrane Community by the end of the year.
Governing Board meeting March 2025
The Governing Board met in Manchester on 17, 18 and 19 March 2025. The following items were discussed:
Strategic planning
The Board discussed how the landscape of evidence synthesis is shifting rapidly. There is growing demand for reliable evidence that informs decision-making. Advancements in AI and data-sharing technologies present both opportunities and threats . Cochrane must adapt to respond to these challenges and our work must be driven by those who use the evidence we produce and publish, not just by those who produce it.
The Governing Board agreed that Karla Soares-Weiser the Acting Chief Executive Officer should focus on a short term strategy over the next few months which will prioritise:
- Expanding editorial capacity to accelerate review production;
- Ensuring active engagement with the Cochrane community.
Finance
The Board reviewed the latest financial results, a risk report and the five year financial plan. A business case for using strategic reserves to invest in developing and launching Cochrane Classmate and Cochrane Crowd for use by organisations outside of Cochrane (which will generate income) was approved.
Business development
Members of the Executive Leadership Team presented the Board with work that is already underway around income generation and diversification. The multi-stranded approach includes generating income from grants and contracts, product development, building new relationships, expanding partnerships and strengthening brand awareness.
Publishers’ report
Colleagues from Wiley joined the Governing Board and presented their report. 85% of the content in the Cochrane Library is free to read. All reviews older than 12 months, protocols, editorials, plain language summaries are free to read by anyone. A sustainable road map towards open access was agreed last year and is reviewed by Wiley and the Board regularly. Concern around not maintaining the pipeline of reviews that existed a few years ago had not materialised and national provision subscriptions have increased.
Based on the strategies already agreed by the Board (the Organizational Strategy approved in 2023 and the Scientific Strategy approved in 2024). The central team is focusing on developing features to open up content for more users, improving the user experience and exploring making living systematic reviews better.
Volunteering strategy
The Board reviewed a volunteering strategy that builds on the findings of the volunteering survey conducted in 2024. It defines how volunteers are involved with Cochrane and aims to improve our offer to volunteers so they can contribute to and participate in achieving our mission. The strategy was launched following the meeting.
Consumers / patient and public involvement
The Governing Board approved a proposal to change our terminology and use patient and public involvement rather than consumers. The change was announced after the meeting.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
Juan Franco and Carolyn Campbell (Head of People and Culture) are leading the development of a Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging strategy. A working group will be established to shape and deliver a number of actions and initiatives over the next 6-12 months.
Committee membership
The Governing Board reviewed the status of the Board’s sub committees and following the meeting, the following appointments were approved:
- Joerg Meerpohl was appointed to the Governance and Nominations Committee;
- Vanessa Jordan and Giordano Perez-Gaxiola were appointed to the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee;
- Emma Persad was appointed to the Remuneration Committee.
The Board agreed that the Product Development Oversight Committee and the Product Development Advisory Group should be merged into one advisory group. Advice from the group will be reported to the Board regularly. Gillian Leng, who chaired the Product Development Oversight Committee, will remain a member of the Advisory Group.
The role and membership of the Membership and Awards Committee will be reviewed.
Governing Board communication
Until recently, open, restricted and closed versions of papers were prepared for Governing Board meetings and redacted versions of the minutes were published on the Cochrane Community website. More recently, summaries were published before and after each meeting and significant decisions made by the Board shared in dedicated news items.
Publishing papers prepared for the Board on the website isn’t an effective way of communicating with members and very few people accessed the documents. The Board agreed that sharing summaries of Governing Board meetings is a better (and more compliant) way of communicating with members about decisions made by the Board. An area of the new website is being developed called Cochrane Resources which is where updates from the Governing Board and information about Annual General Meetings will be saved.
The new website, author hub, regular news letters, community of practice and listening exercise will all improve communication and engagement between the Board, the CET and the Community.
Governing Board meeting May 2025
The Governing Board met on 19 May 2025 to discuss the following items:
Transition Strategy
The Board approved the Acting Chief Executive Officer’s Transition Strategy which sets out four priority areas for the next six months:
- Strengthening engagement across the Cochrane community and co-develop priorities for Cochrane’s future.
- Streamline editorial processes
- Expand Cochrane’s leadership role in global evidence infrastructure
- Enhancing strategic focus and financial resilience
Central Editorial Service
The Governing Board approved a business case for clearing the backlog of reviews and protocols that have remained in editorial processing for over 12 months through a short-term, time-bound package of support.
Governing Board meeting 16 July 2025
The Governing Board met on 16 July 2025. There is a summary of the meeting below:
Audit report and Annual Accounts
Members reviewed the audit report, approved the trustees’ annual report and accounts for 2024 and signed the letter of representation which confirms that trustees have fulfilled their responsibilities in relation to the audit and the preparation of the accounts. The auditor issued an unqualified opinion which confirms that there were no concerns with the accounts.
Annual General meeting 2025
The Governing Board approved the arrangements for a hybrid Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held on 18 November 2025 at 09:00 – 10.30 am UK time. More information will be shared with all members soon.
Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative (ESIC) update
The Wellcome-funded Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative (ESIC) planning process culminated with a consensus meeting held in Cape Town on 24–26 June. Partners involved in the collaboration agreed a funder-aligned roadmap for global evidence synthesis infrastructure. There was broad consensus on core principles, including meaningful support for the Global South, the need for living evidence synthesis, reusable data, AI tools, and inclusive governance models.
Karla Soares-Weiser, the Acting Chief Executive will keep the Governing Board updated with next steps.
The Governing Board approved the establishment of a Working Group to assist in the development of responses to calls for proposals from the Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative and its funding partners. The Terms of Reference and membership will be developed by the Acting CEO and Chair in consultation with Board Directors involved in ESIC meetings.
Editorial metrics
Toby Lasserson, the Acting Editor-in-Chief, reported on accepted proposals and expected submissions. By the end of May 2025, the Central Editorial Service (CES) team had issued 201 final decisions (165 acceptances and 36 rejections), an increase of nearly 20% compared to the same period last year. Quarterly year-on-year publication numbers remained relatively stable in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024 and are expected to surpass the previous year’s figures for Q2.
The efficiencies and improvements to CES processes implemented over the last year are beginning to yield results and turnaround times have reduced.
Re-appointment of elected members
The Governing Board approved the re-appointment of Gillian Leng to the Governing Board for a second three-year term from September 2025 and the re-appointment of Wendy Levinson to the Governing Board for a further three months from the end of her term date (September 2025) to the end of December 2025.
Future meetings
The Governing Board will meet again in Lisbon on 30 October and 1 November 2025.
If you have any questions or want any more information, please email governingboardsecretary@cochrane.org
