ABSTRACT
The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly as a DVD and monthly online. The July 2012 issue (3rd DVD for 2012) contains 5131 complete reviews, 2235 protocols for reviews in production, and 18,306 short summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition, there are citations of 674,000 randomized controlled trials, and 15,700 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains just over 11,000 citations. Eighty-six new reviews have been published in the last 3 months, of which six have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine. The impact factor of the Cochrane Library stands at 5.715. Readers are encouraged to access the full report for any articles of interest as only a brief commentary is provided.