Review Validation

Section or Field

Rule

Stage

Message

Warning or Error

Title

Cannot be empty.

P + R

Section is empty.

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.

P + R

City is empty.

Error

Author (person)

Country cannot be empty.

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.

P + R

Organisation is empty.

Warning

Contact person

First Name and Family Name cannot both be empty.

P + R

First Name and Family Name are empty.

Error

Contact person

Department, Organisation, Address 1 and Address 2 cannot all be empty.

P + R

Department, Organisation, Address 1 and Address 2 are empty.

Error

Contact person

City cannot be empty.

P + R

City is empty.

Error

Contact person

Country cannot be empty.

P + R

Country is empty.

Error

Contact person

Email cannot be empty.

P + R

E-mail is empty.

Error

Contact person

First Name or Family Name should not be empty.

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

Only events relevant to the current stage are allowed.

P + R

Event is not allowed at [Protocol/Full review] stage.

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

Date cannot be empty.

P + R

Date is empty.

Error

Event

Description cannot be empty.

P + R

Description is empty.

Error

Abstract

Abstract should not be longer than 400 words.

R

Section is longer than 400 words (word count [n]).

Warning

Plain language title (not diagnostic)

Default text '[Plain language title]' should be modified.

R

Section is empty.

Error

Summary text (not diagnostic)

Default text '[Summary text]' should be modified.

R

Section is empty.

Error

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 (diagnostic)

Numbering sequence should be unbroken.

R

There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber.

Warning

Summary of results tables (diagnostic)

Cannot be empty.

R

Section is empty.

Error

Summary of findings table, Summary of results table (diagnostic)

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

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

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

I 2 test should be < 95% if totals are calculated.

R

An I 2 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

I 2 test should be < 95% if subtotals are calculated.

R

An I 2 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

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 (diagnostic)

Numbering sequence should be unbroken.

R

There is a gap in the numbering sequence - use Renumber.

Warning

Analyses (diagnostic)

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

Figure

Figure should be linked from the text.

P + R

Figure is not linked from the text.

Error

Figure

Figures of 'other' type 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

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 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.