We follow Cochrane's policy on the Rejection of Cochrane Reviews.  

In summary, a Cochrane review can be rejected at any stage before publication. The decision to reject usually falls within one of four categories: poor quality, repeatedly missing set timelines, lack of core competencies by the author team or concerns about research and publication ethics. 

The authors retain the right of the content and may pursue publication elswhere. No reference can be made to the manuscript having been a Cochrane Review and no acknowledgement of any support received by us (e.g. running of database searches) should be made. 

We may hand over the title to a new author team. 

Any disagreements with the decision to reject will need to follow the Cochrane Appeals Policy.