Review Validation
Validation checks in RevMan 5 and Archie [updated on 22 March 2011]
Two types of validation rules exist: Rules that result in error messages and rules that result in warnings. Errors must be corrected to ensure that a review is published in its present form. Warnings are non-critical but serve as guidelines for complying with the correct format of Cochrane reviews. Some rules apply to protocols only (P), some apply to reviews only (R), and some apply to both reviews and protocols (P+R).
Section or Field | Rule | Stage | Message | Warning or Error |
Title | Cannot be empty. | P + R | Section is empty. | Error |
Title | Cannot exceed 256 characters |
| Title is longer than 256 characters. | Error |
Authors | Cannot be empty. | P + R | Section is empty. | Error |
Author (person) | First Name and Family Name cannot both be empty. | P + R | First Name and Last Name are empty. | Error |
Author (group) | Group Name cannot be empty. | P + R | Group Name is empty | Error |
Author | Record must be linked to Archie. | P + R | Record is not linked to Archie. | Error |
Author (person) | City cannot be empty for any of the addresses. | P + R | City is empty. | Error |
Author (person) | Country cannot be empty for any of the addresses. | P + R | Country is empty. | Error |
Author (person) | First Name or Family Name should not be empty. | P + R | First Name or Family Name is empty. | Warning |
Author (person) | Organisation should not be empty for any of the addresses. | P + R | Organisation is empty. | Warning |
Contact person | First Name and Family Name cannot both be empty of the Primary Address. | P + R | First Name and Family Name are empty. | Error |
Contact person | Department, Organisation, Address 1 and Address 2 cannot all be empty of the Primary Address. | P + R | Department, Organisation, Address 1 and Address 2 are empty. | Error |
Contact person | City cannot be empty of the Primary Address. | P + R | City is empty. | Error |
Contact person | Country cannot be empty of the Primary Address. | P + R | Country is empty. | Error |
Contact person | Email cannot be empty of the Primary Address. | P + R | E-mail is empty. | Error |
Contact person | First Name or Family Name should not be empty of the Primary Address. | P + R | First Name or Family Name is empty. | Warning |
Dates | Assessed as Up-to-date cannot be empty. | R | Assessed as Up-to-date is empty. | Error |
Dates | Date of Search cannot be empty. | R | Date of Search is empty. | Error |
Dates | Assessed as Up-to-date cannot be in the future. | R | Assessed as Up-to-date is in the future. | Error |
Dates | Date of Search cannot be in the future. | R | Date of Search is in the future. | Error |
Dates | Assessed as Up-to-date should not be more than six months after Date of Search. | R | Assessed as Up-to-date is more that six months after Date of Search. | Warning |
Dates | Next Stage Expected should not be empty. | P | Next Stage Expected is empty. | Warning |
Dates | Next Stage Expected should not be in the past. | P + R | Next Stage Expected is in the past. | Warning |
Dates | Protocol First Published should not be empty for a published review. | R (published) | Protocol First Published is empty. | Warning |
What's new | Section cannot be empty unless protocol or review is new. | P + R (not new) | What's new is empty. | Error |
What's new | Only one declaration event is allowed. | P + R | More than one declaration event ('New citation' or 'No longer being updated'). | Error |
What's new | If an Updated event is present, the Date of search should be less than two years old. | R | Review is declared to be updated, but Date of search is more than two years ago. | Warning |
What's new | If a New citation: conclusions not changed event is present, there should usually also be an Updated event. | R | A new citation is declared without the review being updated. This should only be used in rare circumstances if a serious error in the citation record needs to be corrected. | Warning |
What's new | If a Feedback incorporated event is present, there should be feedback in the review. | P + R | A 'Feedback incorporated' event is included, but the Feedback section is empty. | Warning |
Event | Only events relevant to the current stage are allowed. | P + R | Event is not allowed at [Protocol/Full review] stage. | Error |
Event | Date cannot be empty. | P + R | Date is empty. | Error |
Event | Description cannot be empty. | P + R | Description is empty. | Error |
Event | Dates cannot be in the future |
| Date is in the future. | Warning |
Event | Withdrawn reviews only support Amended events. |
| Withdrawn reviews only support Amended events. | Error |
Abstract | Abstract should not exceed 400 words. | R | Section is longer than 700 words (word count [n]). | Warning |
Abstract | Abstract cannot exceed 1000 words. | R | Section is longer than 1000 words (word count [n]). | Error |
Plain language title (not DTA) | Default text '[Plain language title]' should be modified. | R | Section is empty. | Error |
Summary text (not DTA) | Default text '[Summary text]' should be modified. | R | Section is empty. | Error |
Summary (not DTA) | Summary should not exceed 400 words. | R | Section is longer than 400 words (word count [n]). | Warning |
Main text sections | Mandatory text sections (depending on stage) and activated text sections (under mandatory parent sections) cannot be empty. Most main text sections are mandatory with three exceptions (see below). | P + R | Section is empty. | Error |
Acknowledgements, Contributions of authors | Sections should usually not be empty. | P + R | Section is empty. | Warning |
Published notes | Cannot be empty for withdrawn reviews. | P + R | For a withdrawn review, this section should contain the reason for withdrawal. | Error |
Study characteristics | All fields should not be empty at the same time. | R | Section is empty. | Warning |
Summary of findings tables, Summary of results tables (DTA) | Numbering sequence should be unbroken. | R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Summary of results tables (DTA) | Cannot be empty. | R | Section is empty. | Error |
Summary of findings table, Summary of results table (DTA) | Title cannot be empty. | R | Title is empty. | Error |
Additional tables | Numbering sequence should be unbroken. | P + R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Additional table | Title cannot be empty. | P + R | Title is empty. | Error |
Additional table | Table should be linked from the text. | P + R | Table is not linked from the text. | Warning |
Additional table | Links to tables should follow a sequential order. | P + R | The order in which Tables are linked is not correct. Links to Table [n] must come after links to Table [m]. | Warning |
Included study, Excluded study | Study should have at least one reference. | R | No reference found. | Warning |
Reference | All fields should not be empty at the same time. | P + R | Reference is empty. | Warning |
Reference | Required fields should not be empty. | P + R | [Field name] is empty. | 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. | Warning |
Cochrane review reference, Cochrane protocol reference | Should have DOI identifier. | P + R | DOI is missing. | Warning |
Cochrane review reference, Cochrane protocol reference | The DOI identifier should be specified correct. | P + R | Multiple error messages depending on what is wrong. | Warning |
Additional references | References cannot be reused |
| [identifier] is already used as an id in included or excluded studies. | Warning |
Additional reference | Reference should be linked from the text. | P + R | Reference is not linked from the text. | Warning |
Data and analyses | Numbering sequence of comparisons should be unbroken. | R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Comparison | Name cannot be empty. | R | Name is empty. | Error |
Comparison | Numbering sequence of outcomes should be unbroken. | R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Comparison | Should not have empty outcomes. | R | One or more outcomes have no associated study data. | Warning |
Outcome | Name cannot be empty. | R | Name is empty. | Error |
Outcome | Numbering sequence of subgroups should be unbroken. | R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Numeric outcome | I2 test should be < 95% if totals are calculated. | R | An I2 of [value] represents highly inconsistent findings across studies, and may indicate an error in the data. | Warning |
Other outcome | No column heading should be empty. | R | One of the column headings is empty. | Warning |
Subgroup | Name cannot be empty. | R | Name is empty. | Error |
Numeric subgroup | Cannot be excluded from analysis. | R | Subgroup not included in analysis. | Error |
Numeric subgroup | I2 test should be < 95% if subtotals are calculated. | R | An I2 of [value] represents highly inconsistent findings across studies, and may indicate an error in the data. | Warning |
Numeric study data | Cannot be excluded from analysis. | R | Study data not included in analysis. | Error |
Inverse variance outcome 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. | Warning |
Dichotomous study data | Events <= Total and Total > 0. | R | Study data are invalid. | Error |
Continuous study data | SD >= 0 and Total > 0. | R | Study data are invalid. | Error |
Inverse variance study data | SE >= 0. | R | Study data are invalid. | Error |
O-E and variance study data | V >= 0. | R | Study data are invalid. | Error |
Tests (DTA) | Numbering sequence should be unbroken. | R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Analyses (DTA) | Numbering sequence should be unbroken. | R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Figures | Numbering sequence should be unbroken. | P + R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Figures | The recommended Number of figures has been exceeded |
| The recommended maximum number of figures (6) has been exceeded - please remove [n]. | Warning |
Figure | Figure should be linked from the text. | P + R | Figure is not linked from the text. | Error |
Figure | Generic figures, flow diagrams or Risk of Bias/Quality table plots should be smaller than 1000 x 2000 pixels. | P + R | Image is [x] pixels wide and [y] pixels high. Size is too big to fit on some screens or printers. | Warning |
Figure | Links to figures should follow a sequential order. | P + R | The order in which Figures are linked is not correct. Links to Figure [n] must come after links to Figure [m]. | Warning |
Sources of support | Section should not be empty. | P + R | No sources of support found. | Warning |
Source of support | Name cannot be empty. | P + R | Name is empty. | Error |
Feedback | Numbering sequence should be unbroken. | P + R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Feedback item | Title cannot be empty. | P + R | Title is empty. | Error |
Feedback item | Links to feedback items should follow a sequential order. | P + R | The order in which Feedback are linked is not correct. Links to Feedback item [n] must come after links to Feedback item [m]. | Warning |
Feedback text section | Section should not be empty. | P + R | Section is empty. | Warning |
Appendices | Numbering sequence should be unbroken. | P + R | There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber. | Warning |
Appendix | Title cannot be empty. | P + R | Title is empty. | Error |
Appendix | Section should not be empty. | P + R | Section is empty. | Warning. |
Appendix | Links to appendices should follow a sequential order. | P + R | The order in which Appendices are linked is not correct. Links to Appendix [n] must come after links to Appendix [m]. | Warning |
