In 2011, the visibility of Plain Language Summaries (PLS) has taken a colossal leap forward.  The redesign of The Cochrane Library has enabled greater identification of Cochrane Reviews by a typical Google search.  The new website, Cochrane Summaries (https://summaries.cochrane.org), now offers Cochrane PLS in multi-lingual formats for better accessibility. Furthermore, we have extended the reach of Cochrane Reviews through the National Library of Medicine’s inclusion of Cochrane PLS on PubMed Health, a new consumer-oriented tool for locating evidence-based medicine.  

At the same time, Cochrane is experiencing an internal push to improve the quality of materials. The Method’s Groups initiated the ‘Methodological Expectations of Cochrane Intervention Reviews (MECIR) project to define the methodological standards necessary in the conduct of review preparation. The Cochrane Editorial Unit’s (CEU) audit of the content of abstracts, plain language summaries and summary of findings tables has revealed some flaws in current knowledge translation production.  These internal activities have identified a gap in the minimum reporting standards for knowledge translation products, such as PLS.

PLEACS Project (pronounced 'pleeks')

At the Madrid Colloquium in 2011, we proposed a new initiative, Plain Language Expectations for Authors of Cochrane Summaries (PLEACS), to build on the MECIR recommendations by developing similar requirements for the Plain Language Summaries (PLS) that accompany Cochrane Reviews.  This initiative builds on discussions with the Cochrane Editorial Unit, members of the Cochrane Consumer Network, the Consumers’ Executive, and the Cochrane Summaries (https://summaries.cochrane.org) Web Team. 

The purposes of this project include (i) to define the minimum content requirements of PLS; (ii) to define online style and format recommendations for PLS (iii) to improve quality and consistency of PLS; (iv) to support PLS authors through the development of clear guidance; and (iv) to inform development of check lists, Handbook guidance and software modifications. 

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