Reporting transparency: making the ethical mandate explicit

doi:10.1186/s12916-016-0587-5

Review

. 2016 Mar 16:14:44.

doi: 10.1186/s12916-016-0587-5.

Reporting transparency: making the ethical mandate explicit

Stuart G Nicholls^{1

2}, Sinéad M Langan³, Eric I Benchimol^{4

5

6

7}, David Moher^{5

8}

Affiliations

¹ Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, c/o RI Administration Offices, Research Building 1, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada. snicholls@cheo.on.ca.
² School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. snicholls@cheo.on.ca.
³ Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
⁴ Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, c/o RI Administration Offices, Research Building 1, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada.
⁵ School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
⁶ Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
⁸ Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada.

PMID: 26979591
PMCID: PMC4793699
DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0587-5

Review

Reporting transparency: making the ethical mandate explicit

Stuart G Nicholls et al. BMC Med. 2016.

. 2016 Mar 16:14:44.

doi: 10.1186/s12916-016-0587-5.

Authors

Stuart G Nicholls^{1

2}, Sinéad M Langan³, Eric I Benchimol^{4

5

6

7}, David Moher^{5

8}

Affiliations

¹ Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, c/o RI Administration Offices, Research Building 1, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada. snicholls@cheo.on.ca.
² School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. snicholls@cheo.on.ca.
³ Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
⁴ Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, c/o RI Administration Offices, Research Building 1, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada.
⁵ School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
⁶ Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
⁸ Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada.

PMID: 26979591
PMCID: PMC4793699
DOI: 10.1186/s12916-016-0587-5

Abstract

Improving the transparency and quality of reporting in biomedical research is considered ethically important; yet, this is often based on practical reasons such as the facilitation of peer review. Surprisingly, there has been little explicit discussion regarding the ethical obligations that underpin reporting guidelines. In this commentary, we suggest a number of ethical drivers for the improved reporting of research. These ethical drivers relate to researcher integrity as well as to the benefits derived from improved reporting such as the fair use of resources, minimizing risk of harms, and maximizing benefits. Despite their undoubted benefit to reporting completeness, questions remain regarding the extent to which reporting guidelines can influence processes beyond publication, including researcher integrity or the uptake of scientific research findings into policy or practice. Thus, we consider investigation on the effects of reporting guidelines an important step in providing evidence of their benefits.

Keywords: Moral obligations; Publication bias; Research personnel/ethics; Research waste; Social values; Standards.

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References

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1. Carter P, Laurie GT, Dixon-Woods M. The social licence for research: why care.data ran into trouble. J Med Ethics. 2015;41(5):404–409. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2014-102374. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Needleman I, Moher D, Altman DG, Schulz KF, Moles DR, Worthington H. Improving the clarity and transparency of reporting health research: a shared obligation and responsibility. J Dent Res. 2008;87(10):894–895. doi: 10.1177/154405910808701013. - DOI - PubMed

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[1] Glasziou P, Altman DG, Bossuyt P, Boutron I, Clarke M, Julious S, et al. Reducing waste from incomplete or unusable reports of biomedical research. Lancet. 2014;383(9913):267–276. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62228-X. - DOI - PubMed

[2] Glasziou P, Altman DG, Bossuyt P, Boutron I, Clarke M, Julious S, et al. Reducing waste from incomplete or unusable reports of biomedical research. Lancet. 2014;383(9913):267–276. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62228-X. - DOI - PubMed

[3] World Medical Association . WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Fortaleza, Brazil: World Medical Association; 2013. - PubMed

[4] World Medical Association . WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Fortaleza, Brazil: World Medical Association; 2013. - PubMed

[5] Masic I. Ethical aspects and dilemmas of preparing, writing and publishing of the scientific papers in the biomedical journals. Acta Inform Med. 2012;20(3):141–148. doi: 10.5455/aim.2012.20.141-148. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[6] Masic I. Ethical aspects and dilemmas of preparing, writing and publishing of the scientific papers in the biomedical journals. Acta Inform Med. 2012;20(3):141–148. doi: 10.5455/aim.2012.20.141-148. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[7] Carter P, Laurie GT, Dixon-Woods M. The social licence for research: why care.data ran into trouble. J Med Ethics. 2015;41(5):404–409. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2014-102374. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[8] Carter P, Laurie GT, Dixon-Woods M. The social licence for research: why care.data ran into trouble. J Med Ethics. 2015;41(5):404–409. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2014-102374. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[9] Needleman I, Moher D, Altman DG, Schulz KF, Moles DR, Worthington H. Improving the clarity and transparency of reporting health research: a shared obligation and responsibility. J Dent Res. 2008;87(10):894–895. doi: 10.1177/154405910808701013. - DOI - PubMed

[10] Needleman I, Moher D, Altman DG, Schulz KF, Moles DR, Worthington H. Improving the clarity and transparency of reporting health research: a shared obligation and responsibility. J Dent Res. 2008;87(10):894–895. doi: 10.1177/154405910808701013. - DOI - PubMed

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Reporting transparency: making the ethical mandate explicit

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Reporting transparency: making the ethical mandate explicit

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