Changes to Cochrane Library access

Vanessa Jordan

doi:10.1071/HC25156

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Contents Vol 17(3)

Changes to Cochrane Library access

Vanessa Jordan

¹ ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

¹ Department Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Grafton Campus, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

^* Correspondence to: v.jordan@auckland.ac.nz

Journal of Primary Health Care 17(3) 292 https://doi.org/10.1071/HC25156

Submitted: 2 September 2025 Accepted: 5 September 2025 Published: 17 September 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Background

This issue of the Cochrane Corner departs from its usual focus on a specific Cochrane review to highlight a significant change in access to the Cochrane Library for New Zealanders. As of 30 September 2025, national access to the Cochrane Library will be placed behind a paywall.¹ For nearly two decades, New Zealand has benefitted from full public access to this gold standard evidence base, enabling equitable use by health practitioners, consumers, and policy analysts alike.

Historically, the decision to fund national access was both ethical and economically sound. The cost of individual institutional licenses exceeded that of a single national license, making the latter a practical solution. However, following the recent restructuring of the health system, responsibility for funding this license shifted from the Ministry of Health to Te Whatu Ora (TWO). While TWO acknowledges the value of the Cochrane Library and has committed to maintaining access for health practitioners, it has opted to discontinue funding for public access to reduce costs.

However, patients, healthcare students, and members of the public will no longer have access to this resource. This shift marks a concerning step backward in our commitment to health equity and transparency. Informed decision making is a cornerstone of patient centred care,²^,³ and restricting access to high quality evidence undermines that principle.

Bottom line

One click access to Cochrane reviews is no longer available for New Zealand healthcare practitioners. When reading the Cochrane Corner, you will no longer be able to directly click through to the full review. To gain access, practitioners must register for an Open Athens account via Te Whatu Ora: https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-health-professionals/health-research/library.

Once registered, the Cochrane Library can be accessed through the TWO library resource page: https://health-new-zealand.libguides.com/primarycare/search.

As healthcare practitioners in New Zealand, you now resume the role of gatekeepers to this knowledge. This is a responsibility that must be approached with care, advocacy, and a continued commitment to sharing evidence wherever possible.

Conflicts of interest

The author is a director and board member of the Cochrane Collaboration.

Declaration of funding

This summary article did not receive any specific funding.

References

1 Jordan V. The Cochrane library is a global source of independent health evidence for everyone – why is NZ restricting access? The Conversation, 22 August 2025.

2 Elmore JG, Ganschow PS, Geller BM. Communication between patients and providers and informed decision making. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr 2010; 2010(41): 204-9.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

3 Kunneman M, Montori VM. When patient-centred care is worth doing well: informed consent or shared decision-making. BMJ Qual Saf 2017; 26(7): 522-4.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |