Purpose of App Review
To evaluate the performance, navigability and usability of the Cochrane Library iPad edition app.
Introduction
The Cochrane Library app is designed by a Cochrane Collaboration, a non-profit organization. It is a medical research organization which is conducting a research in a systematic way to improve the evidence-based medicine. The Cochrane Library gives the publishing forum for the collaboration.
User Interface
The Cochrane Library app is designed for the iPad edition.
The opening screen of the app contains the option “My Library”. If there is a new issue available, the app will automatically prompt you to download it.
Select the view option to choose a particular issue and app will take you to the main page of the issue. From there, you can sideswipe between articles and the pages of the articles.
If you think sideswiping is too slow, you can also use the multi-colored navigation-bar at the bottom or the table of contents tab available on the left side.
The font size, audio, search, bookmarks, tags, and share by email can be managed from top toolbar.
The link to official website of Cochrane, appendices, and PDF are available throughout each article when appropriate. The search feature allows you to find the current issue through the app on you iPad.
Merits
- Easy to use interface
- Elegant use of colors
- PDF formatted articles
- Easy to understand language summary
- HTML links to the Cochrane Library
- Authentic references are included
Demerits
- Lack of updated issues
- Short versions of review available
- Inability to email or share an entire article
- No ability to highlight
Conclusions
- The Cochrane Library app is an excellent tool to access Cochrane Library content published as online issues. The Cochrane organization has designed the app that is easy to access and user can read the interesting articles.
- Currently, this app is only developed for iPad, not for iPhone and Android.
