Cross references to updates of systematic reviews should be published

EDITOR—In an editorial Smith mentions the BMJ's commitment to publishing versions of systematic reviews already available in the Cochrane Library.1 We would like to know whether the BMJ also plans to publish substantive updates of such reviews, either electronically or in print.

Reviews and review updates published only in the Cochrane Library are not indexed in Medline or Embase. This would change if abstracts of, or at least cross references to, substantive updates of Cochrane reviews were published in the BMJ's print edition. Without such indexing much of the medical community may not be aware when updates of meta-analyses become available, since familiarity with the Cochrane Library and access to the Internet are still far from universal.

We are making this inquiry with one specific Cochrane review, …