Elevating the Quality of Disability and Rehabilitation Research: Mandatory Use of the Reporting Guidelines

What are reporting guidelines?

Reporting guidelines are documents that assist authors in reporting research methods and findings. They are typically presented as checklists or flow diagrams that lay out the core reporting criteria required to give a clear account of a study’s methods and results. The intent is not just that authors complete a specific reporting checklist, but that they ensure that their manuscripts contain key elements. Reporting guidelines should be seen not as an administrative burden but rather as a template by which an author can construct their articles more completely.

Reporting guidelines have been developed for almost every study design. More information on the design, use, and array of reporting guidelines can be found on the website for the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) Network, an important organization that promotes improvements in the accuracy and comprehensiveness of reporting (EQUATOR Network, n.d.). Examples include the following:

There is accumulating evidence that the use of reporting guidelines improves the quality of research. Turner, Shamseer, Altman, Schul, & Moher (2012) established that the use of the CONSORT Statement improved the completeness of reporting in randomized controlled trials. Diagnostic accuracy studies appeared to show improvement in reporting standards when the STARD guidelines were applied (Smidt et al., 2006). Early evidence also suggests that inclusion of reporting standards during peer review raises manuscript quality (Cobo et al., 2011). The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors now encourages all journals to monitor reporting standards and collect associated reporting guideline checklists in the process (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, 2013). Furthermore, the U.S. National Library of Medicine (2013) also now actively promotes the use of reporting guidelines.

How will reporting guidelines be integrated into the manuscript flow?

By January 1, 2015, all the journals publishing this editorial will have worked through implementation and the mandatory use of guidelines, and checklists will be firmly in place. Because each journal has its unique system for managing submissions, there may be several ways that these reporting requirements will be integrated into the manuscript flow. Some journals will make adherence to reporting criteria and associated checklists mandatory for all submissions. Other journals may require them only when the manuscript is closer to acceptance for publication. In any case, the onus will be on the author not only to ensure the inclusion of the appropriate reporting criteria but also to document evidence of inclusion through the use of the reporting guideline checklists. Authors should consult the Instructions for Authors of participating journals for more information.

We hope that simultaneous implementation of this new reporting requirement will send a strong message to all disability and rehabilitation researchers of the need to adhere to the highest standards when performing and disseminating research. While we expect that there will be growing pains with this process, we hope that within a short period, researchers will begin to use these guidelines during the design phases of their research, thereby improving their methods. The potential benefits to authors are obvious: Articles are improved through superior reporting of a study’s design and methods, and the usefulness of the article to readers is enhanced. Reporting guidelines also allow for greater transparency in reporting how studies were conducted and can help, hopefully during the peer review process, to expose misleading or selective reporting. Reporting guidelines are an important tool to assist authors in the structural development of a manuscript, eventually allowing an article to realize its full potential.