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Quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals: a protocol for a systematic survey of the literature.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:The quality of reporting of abstracts of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in major general medical journals and in some category-specific journals was shown to be poor before the publication of the ConsolidatedStandards of ReportingTrials (CONSORT) extension for abstracts in 2008, and an improvement in the quality of reporting of abstracts was observed after its publication. The effect of the publication of the CONSORT extension for abstracts on the quality of reporting of RCTs in emergency medicine journals has not been studied. In this paper, we present the protocol of a systematic survey of the literature, aimed at assessing the quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals and at evaluating the effect of the publication of the CONSORT extension for abstracts on the quality of reporting. METHODS AND ANALYSIS:The Medline database will be searched for RCTs published in the years 2005-2007 and 2014-2015 in the top 10 emergency medicine journals, according to their impact factor. Candidate studies will be screened for inclusion in the review. Exclusion criteria will be the following: the abstract is not available, they are published only as abstracts, still recruiting, or duplicate publications. The study outcomes will be the overall quality of reporting (number of items reported) according to the CONSORT extension and the compliance with its individual items. Two independent reviewers will screen each article for inclusion and will extract data on the CONSORT items and on other variables, which can possibly affect the quality of reporting. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION:This is a library-based study and therefore exempt from research ethics board review. The review results will be disseminated through abstract submission to conferences and publication in a peer-reviewed biomedical journal.

SUBMITTER: Germini F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5566942 | biostudies-other | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals: a protocol for a systematic survey of the literature.

Germini Federico F Marcucci Maura M Fedele Marta M Galli Maria Giulia MG Mbuagbaw Lawrence L Salvatori Valentina V Veronese Giacomo G Worster Andrew A Thabane Lehana L

BMJ open 20170427 4

<h4>Introduction</h4>The quality of reporting of abstracts of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in major general medical journals and in some category-specific journals was shown to be poor before the publication of the ConsolidatedStandards of ReportingTrials (CONSORT) extension for abstracts in 2008, and an improvement in the quality of reporting of abstracts was observed after its publication. The effect of the publication of the CONSORT extension for abstracts on the quality of reporting o ...[more]

PMID: 28450467

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Project description:BACKGROUND:The aim of this study was to evaluate the current state of two publication practices, reporting guidelines requirements and clinical trial registration requirements, by analyzing the "Instructions for Authors" of emergency medicine journals. METHODS:We performed a web-based data abstraction from the "Instructions for Authors" of the 27 Emergency Medicine journals catalogued in the Expanded Science Citation Index of the 2014 Journal Citation Reports and Google Scholar Metrics h5-index to identify whether each journal required, recommended, or made no mention of the following reporting guidelines: EQUATOR Network, ICMJE, ARRIVE, CARE, CONSORT, STARD, TRIPOD, CHEERS, MOOSE, STROBE, COREQ, SRQR, SQUIRE, PRISMA-P, SPIRIT, PRISMA, and QUOROM. We also extracted whether journals required or recommended trial registration. Authors were blinded to one another's ratings until completion of the data validation. Cross-tabulations and descriptive statistics were calculated using IBM SPSS 22. RESULTS:Of the 27 emergency medicine journals, 11 (11/27, 40.7%) did not mention a single guideline within their "Instructions for Authors," while the remaining 16 (16/27, 59.3%) mentioned one or more guidelines. The QUOROM statement and SRQR were not mentioned by any journals whereas the ICMJE guidelines (18/27, 66.7%) and CONSORT statement (15/27, 55.6%) were mentioned most often. Of the 27 emergency medicine journals, 15 (15/27, 55.6%) did not mention trial or review registration, while the remaining 12 (12/27, 44.4%) at least mentioned one of the two. Trial registration through ClinicalTrials.gov was mentioned by seven (7/27, 25.9%) journals while the WHO registry was mentioned by four (4/27, 14.8%). Twelve (12/27, 44.4%) journals mentioned trial registration through any registry platform. DISCUSSION:The aim of this study was to evaluate the current state of two publication practices, reporting guidelines requirements and clinical trial registration requirements, by analyzing the "Instructions for Authors" of emergency medicine journals. In this study, there was not a single reporting guideline mentioned in more than half of the journals. This undermines efforts of other journals to improve the completeness and transparency of research reporting. CONCLUSIONS:Reporting guidelines are infrequently required or recommended by emergency medicine journals. Furthermore, few require clinical trial registration. These two mechanisms may limit bias and should be considered for adoption by journal editors in emergency medicine. TRIAL REGISTRATION:UMIN000022486.

Project description:ImportanceSince the 1990s, reporting guidelines have developed that uniformly require authors to report a measure of precision (confidence intervals [CIs]) in addition to effect size.ObjectiveTo investigate the time trend of statistical inference and statistical reporting style in abstracts of major cancer journals.Design, setting, and participantsThis cross-sectional study reviewed all abstracts published between January 1, 1990, and December 31, 2020, in 10 high-ranking cancer journals (Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Cancer Cell, JAMA Oncology, Annals of Oncology, Molecular Cancer, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and Trends in Cancer) using a previously validated computerized algorithm to search the PubMed database. For the time trend analyses, 2 journals with only a few years of existence (JAMA Oncology and Trends in Cancer) were excluded.ExposuresCalendar year, journal, and type of abstract (randomized clinical trial or other).Main outcomes and measuresProportions of abstracts containing CIs, P values without CIs, and qualitative expressions of statistical significance only were compared over time among journals.ResultsOverall, 24 034 of 42 509 abstracts (56.5%) contained statistical inference. Reporting of CIs increased over time in 5 of 8 journals. From 2016 to 2020, the most prevailing statistical reporting style was the presentation of CIs (3070 of 4895 [62.7%]). However, the proportion of abstracts reporting statistical inference based solely on the terms significant or nonsignificant was still 1195 of 4895 (24.4%) during this period and was most prevalent among basic science-oriented cancer journals (eg, 63 of 66 [95.5%] in Cancer Cell). A higher prevalence of CI reporting was associated with reporting of results from randomized clinical trials and the requirement to report according to guidelines (eg, 522 of 574 [90.9%] in Lancet Oncology).Conclusions and relevanceThese findings suggest that the reporting style of statistical inference in abstracts of major cancer journals has improved over time. A requirement in journals' instructions for authors to present statistical inference in accordance with reporting guidelines and the implementation of these guidelines in submitted manuscripts on the part of journal editors may improve reporting.

Project description:BackgroundThe objective of this review is to identify and critically evaluate the published literature on emergency medicine (EM) training programs in resource-limited health-care settings in order to provide insight for developing EM training programs in such health systems.MethodsA literature search was conducted up to the end of April 2011 using MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, EBM Reviews, Healthstar and Web of Science databases, using the following search terms: Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine Services, Education Training Residency Programs, Emergency Medical Systems and Medical Education, without limitation to income countries as outlined in the World Bank World Trade Indicators classification 2009-2010 (World Trade Indicators Country Classification by Region and Income, July 2009-July 2010). As the intent of the review was to identify and critically evaluate the literature readily available (published) to LMICs developing EM programs, the gray literature was not searched.ResultsThe search yielded 16 articles that met the final inclusion criteria. As the majority of articles provide a narrative description of the processes and building blocks used in developing the residency programs reported, we present our results in narrative format. By providing a summary of the lessons learned to date, we hope to provide a useful starting point for other resource-limited settings interested in establishing emergency medicine specialty training programs and hope to encourage further information exchange on this matter.ConclusionsThe results of the review indicate that EM training is in its infancy in resource-constrained health-care systems. There are few detailed reports of these programs successes and limitations, including efforts to optimize graduate retention. Despite the paucity of currently published data on the development of EM residency training programs in these settings, this review demonstrates the need for encouraging further information exchange to aid in such efforts, and the authors make specific recommendations to help guide future authors on reporting on such efforts.

Project description:Background and objectivesSurvey research is an important research method used to determine individuals' attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors; however, as with other research methods, inadequate reporting threatens the validity of results. This study aimed to describe the quality of reporting of surveys published between 2001 and 2011 in the field of nephrology.Design, setting, participants, & measurementsThe top nephrology journals were systematically reviewed (2001-2011: American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, and Kidney International; 2006-2011: Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology) for studies whose primary objective was to collect and report survey results. Included were nephrology journals with a heavy focus on clinical research and high impact factors. All titles and abstracts were screened in duplicate. Surveys were excluded if they were part of a multimethod study, evaluated only psychometric characteristics, or used semi-structured interviews. Information was collected on survey and respondent characteristics, questionnaire development (e.g., pilot testing), psychometric characteristics (e.g., validity and reliability), survey methods used to optimize response rate (e.g., system of multiple contacts), and response rate.ResultsAfter a screening of 19,970 citations, 216 full-text articles were reviewed and 102 surveys were included. Approximately 85% of studies reported a response rate. Almost half of studies (46%) discussed how they developed their questionnaire and only a quarter of studies (28%) mentioned the validity or reliability of the questionnaire. The only characteristic that improved over the years was the proportion of articles reporting missing data (2001-2004: 46.4%; 2005-2008: 61.9%; and 2009-2011: 84.8%; respectively) (P<0.01).ConclusionsThe quality of survey reporting in nephrology journals remains suboptimal. In particular, reporting of the validity and reliability of the questionnaire must be improved. Guidelines to improve survey reporting and increase transparency are clearly needed.

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Quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals: a protocol for a systematic survey of the literature.

Publications

Quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals: a protocol for a systematic survey of the literature.

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