Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jun 24;17(1):301.
doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1408-z.

Update on the endorsement of CONSORT by high impact factor journals: a survey of journal "Instructions to Authors" in 2014

Larissa Shamseer  1   2 , Sally Hopewell  3 , Douglas G Altman  3 , David Moher  4   5 , Kenneth F Schulz  6   7
Affiliations

Update on the endorsement of CONSORT by high impact factor journals: a survey of journal "Instructions to Authors" in 2014

Larissa Shamseer et al. Trials. .

Abstract

Background: The CONsolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement provides a minimum standard set of items to be reported in published clinical trials; it has received widespread recognition within the biomedical publishing community. This research aims to provide an update on the endorsement of CONSORT by high impact medical journals.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional examination of the online "Instructions to Authors" of 168 high impact factor (2012) biomedical journals between July and December 2014. We assessed whether the text of the "Instructions to Authors" mentioned the CONSORT Statement and any CONSORT extensions, and we quantified the extent and nature of the journals' endorsements of these. These data were described by frequencies. We also determined whether journals mentioned trial registration and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE; other than in regards to trial registration) and whether either of these was associated with CONSORT endorsement (relative risk and 95 % confidence interval). We compared our findings to the two previous iterations of this survey (in 2003 and 2007). We also identified the publishers of the included journals.

Results: Sixty-three percent (106/168) of the included journals mentioned CONSORT in their "Instructions to Authors." Forty-four endorsers (42 %) explicitly stated that authors "must" use CONSORT to prepare their trial manuscript, 38 % required an accompanying completed CONSORT checklist as a condition of submission, and 39 % explicitly requested the inclusion of a flow diagram with the submission. CONSORT extensions were endorsed by very few journals. One hundred and thirty journals (77 %) mentioned ICMJE, and 106 (63 %) mentioned trial registration.

Conclusions: The endorsement of CONSORT by high impact journals has increased over time; however, specific instructions on how CONSORT should be used by authors are inconsistent across journals and publishers. Publishers and journals should encourage authors to use CONSORT and set clear expectations for authors about compliance with CONSORT.

Keywords: CONSORT; Endorsement; Registration; Reporting; Trial.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Gabriel SE, Normand ST. Getting the methods right — the foundation of patient-centered outcomes research. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(9):787–90. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1207437. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Begg C, Cho M, Eastwood S, Horton R, Moher D, Olkin I, et al. Improving the quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials. The CONSORT statement. J Am Med Assoc. 1996;276(8):637–9. doi: 10.1001/jama.1996.03540080059030. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Moher D, Schulz KF, Altman DG. The CONSORT statement: revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel-group randomized trials. JAMA. 2001;285(15):1987–91. doi: 10.1001/jama.285.15.1987. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D. CONSORT 2010 statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials. BMJ. 2010;340:c332. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c332. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Altman DG, Schulz KF, Moher D, Egger M, Davidoff F, Elbourne D, et al. The revised CONSORT statement for reporting randomized trials: explanation and elaboration. Ann Intern Med. 2001;134(8):663–94. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-134-8-200104170-00012. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types