It is 20 years since the inception of The Cochrane Collaboraion, an international organisation committed to informing health nd healthcare decisions with reliable research evidence in the orm of systematic reviews. In this time, Cochrane’s global network f 28 000 contributors in more than 120 countries has collecively published over 5500 Cochrane systematic reviews in The ochrane Library, built capacity for evidence-based health care, nd pioneered new methods for research and research syntheis. As the breadth of interventions and conditions covered by ochrane reviews has grown, so too has use of The Cochrane ibrary. In 2012, there were more than 5 million full-text downoads of Cochrane reviews, over 11.5 million abstract views, and lobal usage was up 25% on the previous year. Among the research ommunity, the value of Cochrane reviews is recognised by the reltively high Impact Factor for the Cochrane Database of Systematic eviews (5.785), placing it in the top 12 journals in the ‘Medicine, eneral & Internal’ category. Australia is a leading contributor to The Cochrane Collaboration, ith 2500 Australian authors involved in preparing around a fifth f all Cochrane reviews. Australia is also a significant user of The ochrane Library and consistently tops the usage table of downloads er population. Since 2002, the Australian government has funded national subscription to The Cochrane Library, ensuring that all ustralians making decisions about health and health care have ccess to reliable information to inform their choices. This is faciltated through the inclusion of plain-language summaries within ochrane reviews to assist patients and their carers to interpret nd apply the evidence.