The Cochrane Review Group's (CRG) Co-ordinating Editor(s) can reject a Cochrane Review at any stage before publication (including unpublished protocols, unpublished Cochrane Reviews, and Cochrane Reviews that are being updated). 

Authors should note:

• Registration of a new title or drafting of the protocol for a Cochrane Review by a specific author team does not guarantee publication for that team.  Publication of a protocol does not guarantee authorship or publication of the subsequent review; and publication of a Cochrane Review does not guarantee authorship or publication of an updated version.
• Authors are free to submit elsewhere a Cochrane Review that has been rejected on the condition that no reference is made to the manuscript being a Cochrane Review. 
• A CRG has the right to register and publish a Cochrane Review on the same topic as a rejected Cochrane Review with a different author team.

For more information see the Rejection of Cochrane Reviews Policy part of the Cochrane Editorial and Publishing Policy Resource.