Background: Although Cochrane systematic reviews are important for clinical decisions, the structured abstract and plain language summary (PLS) are essential for knowledge translation (KT). However, language is a main barrier for Chinese users. Therefore, Simplified Chinese Translation and Dissemination (SCTD) Working Group has been working on settling the language gap by organizing activities of SCTD. Cochrane China Network (CCN) was established in 2020 in view of deepening the collaboration of research and KT. We started the collaborative SCTD at the same time, aiming to foster a stable capacity in translation and dissemination. Objective: The aim of this work is to present the collaborative model of SCTD.
Methods: We collaborated within CCN with affiliates and working groups and also with teams outside CCN but with outstanding interest and capacity of joining this work (Table 1). Together we organized training involving contents of evidence-based medicine, systematic review, clinical trial, Cochrane KT, and medical English translation. Training sessions were set up as a part of course teaching, intern practice, or webinars. There was at least one tutor in each team to supervise the translation and complete the editing work. All teams shared the same pathway and glossary, and all of the final review was done by our working group in order to keep consistency for quality control.
Results: We published 710 and 759 translations of abstracts & PLSs in 2021 and 2022 respectively, which shows a significant increase, and a lot more active translators contributed with simplified Chinese translation of higher quality. The training itself built up the capacity of translators and editors. We also continued to disseminate the translation via the main social media in China called WeChat, and we acknowledged the translators and editors to the public, which also encouraged the information dissemination supported by different teams.
Conclusions: The idea of network supports SCTD activity by enhancing the efficiency of our work and in turn it provides an innovative way for capacity training as well as education. We will continue the collaboration of SCTD and explore the possibility of improvement by survey and communication in the future.