We are grateful to:

• Roberta Scherer at University of Maryland for transferring to the editorial base 3700 records from the International Registry of Vision Trials. This registry was used in 1997 as the basis for the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group specialised register.
• Nancy Collins of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), and Peggy Denny of the Clinical Education Division, for providing the Eyes and Vision Group editorial base with a set of AAO Basic and Clinical Science Course Manuals.
• Narciss Okhravi for allowing us to use terms and definitions from the glossary developed for the Manual of Primary Eye Care (Okhravi, 1997).
• Aries Arditi and Greg Goodrich for their donation of a copy of Low Vision - The Reference (LVTR), a database of vision rehabilitation research.
• BMJ Publishing for our free subscription to the British Journal of Ophthalmology, provided for handsearching.