Workshop type: Discussion.

Objective: To outline some potential uses for the Fields topic lists feature in Archie, to suggest some procedures and protocols for its use, and to stimulate discussion among Fields and CRGs about working collaboratively on the development and use of topic lists.

Summary:
In this workshop, we will discuss and review at least four potential uses for Field-specific tags and topic lists, as follows:

1. Helping Fields organize their work:
Using Field topic lists, each Field can now set up its own classification system for Cochrane reviews and each review, protocol or title in Archie can be tagged to indicate where it sits in that classification.  This means that the work of tracking down transitions (title to protocol, withdrawn reviews, changes of title or citation etc.) will be greatly decreased for Fields, since much of it is automated in Archie. 

2. Identifyi ng important gaps in The Cochrane Library:
In setting up topic lists, Fields can use classifications that map in some way to the importance of individual topics to their constituent groups.  This will make it easier to identify important topics with too little coverage by Cochrane reviews.

3. Helping users navigate through published Cochrane reviews/abstracts:
Field-specific topic lists will allow Library users to browse reviews by field-related topics.

4. Facilitating interactions between Fields and CRGs:
The availability of topic lists along with some of the other features of Archie should help Fields in their interactions with CRGs. In particular, the ‘Notes’ attached to each review (or title or protocol) in Archie will allow Fields to indicate to RGCs whenever they have an interest in participating in the review production process – for example, by providing co-authors or peer reviewers. 

We will also discuss challenges in developing Field topic lists, including deciding which reviews should be included within the Field’s scope, developing the structured list of Field-specific topics, and determining where the reviews should be placed in the Field-specific topic list. Possible approaches for addressing these challenges will be discussed, based on lessons learned in the development of the Complementary Medicine Field topic list.

[This workshop was made possible by grant number R24 AT001293 from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institute of Health. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NCCAM.]

Intended audience: (i) Field Super Users in Archie who plan to build a Field topic list; (ii) review Group Co-ordinators who would like to learn more about Field topic lists in order to promote increased CRG-Field interaction as well as to promote harmonization of the proc esses used by CRGs and Fields in developing and using topic lists.

Technical level expected of participants: Basic.