Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives: By Organization

This chart lists the major biomedical research reporting guidelines that provide advice for reporting research methods and findings. They usually "specify a minimum set of items required for a clear and transparent account of what was done and what was found in a research study, reflecting, in particular, issues that might introduce bias into the research" (Adapted from the EQUATOR Network Resource Centre). The chart also includes editorial style guides for writing research reports or other publications.

See the details of the search strategy. More research reporting guidelines are at the EQUATOR Network Resource Centre.

ORGANIZATION/GUIDELINE	DESCRIPTION
AMA Manual of Style: American Medical Association	A manuscript style guide for medical science.
APA Style: American Psychological Association	Used in social and behavioral science studies.
ARRIVE: Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments	For reporting animal research and peer-reviewers of animal research studies. Scientists developed the guidelines, originally published in PLOS Biology, in consultation with the scientific community as part of a National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3R). More information, including the current list of endorsements by scientific journals, funding bodies, universities, and learned societies is on the ARRIVE home page. Kilkenny C, Browne WJ, Cuthill IC, Emerson M, Altman DG. Improving bioscience research reporting: the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting animal research. PLoS Biol. 2010 Jun [cited 2018 Apr 13];29;8(6):e1000412. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2893951/ doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000412. PubMed PMID: 20613859; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2893951.
ASSERT: A Standard for the Scientific and Ethical Review of Trials	Research ethics committees use this guideline to review and monitor randomized clinical trials. ASSERT’s 18-item checklist includes some elements of CONSORT to ensure fulfillment of the requirements for scientific validity. Taken from https://www.assert-statement.org/: “The ASSERT statement is no longer under development, having been subsumed into the SPIRIT (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials) initiative.”
CARE: reporting guidelines for CAse REports	Evidence-based, minimum recommendations for case reports. The CARE guidelines provide early signs of what may work for patients.
CDE: Common Data Elements	Common data elements are standardized terms for the collection and exchange of data. CDEs are metadata; they describe the type of data collected, not the data itself. An example of metadata is the question presented on a form, "Patient Name," whereas an example of data would be "Jane Smith." This portal provides access to NIH-supported CDE initiatives and other resources for investigators developing data collection protocols.
CDISC: Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium	Standards supporting the "acquisition, exchange, submission and archive of clinical research data and metadata."
CHEERS: Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards Statement	Used to report "economic evaluations of health interventions."
CoBRA: Citation of BioResources in journal Articles	Developed by members of the journal editors’ subgroup of the Bioresource Research Impact Factor (BRIF) for citing bioresources, such as biological samples, data, and databases.
CONSORT 2010: Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials	Evidence-based, 25-item checklist containing the minimum recommendations for reporting Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs).
COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics	Forum for editors of peer-reviewed journals to discuss issues related to the integrity of the scientific record. Asks editors to report, record, and initiate investigations into ethical problems in the publication process. All Elsevier journals are COPE members.
COREQ: Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research	A "32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups."
CSE: Council of Science Editors	Authority on scientific communication issues.
EASE:European Association of Science Editors	Remain aware of trends in traditional or electronic scientific publishing. European Science Editing (ESE) is the official journal of the European Association of Science Editors (EASE).
EQUATOR: Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research	Reporting guidelines developers, medical journal editors and peer reviewers, research funding bodies, and other partners work to improve the quality of research. Additional Resources & Links to Other Reporting Guidelines
FAIRsharing.org (formerly, Biosharing)	"A curated, informative and educational resource on data and metadata standards, inter-related to databases and data policies."
FAME Editorial Guidelines: Forum for African Medical Editors	68-page guidelines includes the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts to Biomedical Journals and the Helsinki Declaration.
GNOSIS: Guidelines for Neuro-Oncology: Standards for Investigational Studies	Guidelines to standardize reports of surgically-based Phase 1 and Phase 2 neuro-oncology trials. A checklist format summarizes the guidelines.
GPP 2022: Good Publication Practice	Guidelines for the results of clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. BioMedCentral & BMJ journals ask authors of industry-sponsored studies, or of papers in industry-sponsored supplements, to follow GPP. (To download a PDF of GPP 2022 from the Annals of Internal Medicine website, open a free account if you do not have a journal subscription.) DeTora LM, Toroser D, Sykes A, et al. Good Publication Practice (GPP) guidelines for company-sponsored biomedical research: 2022 update. Ann Intern Med. 30 August 2022. [Epub ahead of print]. doi:10.7326/M22-1460.
GLISC: Grey Literature International Steering Committee	Guidelines to produce scientific and technical reports and writing/distributing grey literature.
Instructions to Authors in the Health Sciences: Mulford Library, University of Toledo HSL	Lists journal titles in alphabetical order. Contains publishing guidelines for some journals. Indicates which journals follow CONSORT and/or other guidelines.
ICMJE: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors	Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (also called the Vancouver Style) Journal List
International Congress on Peer Review and Biomedical Publication	The aim is to improve the quality and credibility of scientific peer review and publication and to help advance the efficiency, effectiveness, and equitability of the dissemination of biomedical information throughout the world.
INANE: International Academy of Nursing Editors	To promote best practices in the nursing literature.
ISA-Tab: Mayfield Handbook Investigation/Study/Assay (ISA) tab-delimited (TAB) format	"a general purpose framework with which to collect and communicate complex metadata (i.e. sample characteristics, technologies used, type of measurements made) from 'omics-based' experiments employing a combination of technologies."
MIAME: Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment	The MIAME guideline is in Appendix B of Applications of Toxicogenomic Technologies to Predictive Toxicology and Risk Assessment (2007) at https://www.nap.edu/read/12037/chapter/17. Describes the basic data needed to enable the unambiguous interpretation of the results and to possibly replicate the experiment. Brazma A, Hingamp P, Quackenbush J, Sherlock G, Spellman P, Stoeckert C, Aach J, Ansorge W, Ball CA, Causton HC, Gaasterland T, Glenisson P, Holstege FC, Kim IF, Markowitz V, Matese JC, Parkinson H, Robinson A, Sarkans U, Schulze-Kremer S, Stewart J, Taylor R, Vilo J, Vingron M. Minimum information about a microarray experiment (MIAME)-toward standards for microarray data. Nat Genet. 2001 Dec [cited 2018 Apr 13];29(4):365-71. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/ng1201-365 PubMed PMID: 11726920. Knudsen TB, Daston GP; Teratology Society. MIAME guidelines. Reprod Toxicol. 2005 Jan-Feb [cited 2018 Apr 13];19(3):263. PubMed PMID: 15686863.
MIBBI: Minimum Information for Biological and Biomedical Investigations	Portal of almost 40 checklists can use when reporting biological and biomedical science research.
MOOSE: Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology	To report the meta-analyses of observational studies in epidemiology.
ORION Statement: Guidelines for Transparent Reporting of Outbreak Reports and Intervention studies Of Nosocomial infection	A 22-item checklist showing items to include when reporting an outbreak or intervention study of a nosocomial organism. Endorsed by professional special interest groups and societies, including the Association of Medical Microbiologists (AMM), British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) & the Infection Control Nurses' Association (ICNA) Research and Development Group.
PRIMER Collaboration: PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF MEDICAL RESEARCH	Group that aims to improve the design of studies, their presentation, interpretation of results and translation into practice.
Principles and Guidelines for Reporting Preclinical Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH)	NIH held a joint workshop in June 2014 with the Nature Publishing Group and Science on the issue of reproducibility and rigor of research findings, with journal editors representing over 30 basic/preclinical science journals in which NIH-funded investigators have most often published. The workshop focused on the common opportunities in the scientific publishing arena to enhance rigor and further support research that is reproducible, robust, and transparent. Journal editors at that workshop came to consensus on a set of principles to facilitate these goals, which some journals have agreed to endorse.
PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (formerly, the QUOROM statement)	The PRISMA Statement is to help authors improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. It has “focused on randomized trials, but PRISMA can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews of other types of research, particularly evaluations of interventions. PRISMA may also be useful for critical appraisal of published systematic reviews, although it is not a quality assessment instrument to gauge the quality of a systematic review.”
QUOROM: QUality Of Reporting Of Meta-analyses (Renamed PRISMA in 2009)	Checklist that describes the preferred way to present the abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections of a report of a meta-analysis. Moher D, Cook DJ, Eastwood S, Olkin I, Rennie D, Stroup DF. Improving the quality of reports of meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials: the QUOROM statement. Quality of Reporting of Meta-analyses. Lancet. 1999 Nov 27[cited 2018 Apr 13];354(9193):1896-900. PubMed PMID: 10584742.
RedHot: Reporting Data on Homeopathic Treatments (A CONSORT Supplement)	Eight-item checklist to use by authors and editors when publishing reports of homeopathic clinical trials.
The REFLECT Statement: Reporting guidElines For randomized controLled trials for livEstoCk and food safeTy	Evidence-based minimum set of items for trials reporting production, health, and food-safety outcomes. (22-item checklist)
REMARK: REporting recommendations for tumor MARKer prognostic studies	Guidelines for reporting of tumor marker studies. McShane LM, Altman DG, Sauerbrei W, Taube SE, Gion M, Clark GM; Statistics Subcommittee of NCI-EORTC Working Group on Cancer Diagnostics. REporting recommendations for tumor MARKer prognostic studies (REMARK). Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2006 Nov [cited 2018 Apr 13];100(2):229-35. Epub 2006 Aug 24. PubMed PMID: 16932852.
The RIGHT Statement	"Reporting practice guidelines in health care"
SAGER: Sex and Gender Equity in Research	How to report sex and gender information in a study’s design, data analyses, results, and interpretation of findings.
SMRS: Standard Metabolic Reporting Structures	Recommendations for standardizing and reporting of metabolic analyses. Lindon JC, Nicholson JK, Holmes E, Keun HC, Craig A, Pearce JT, Bruce SJ, Hardy N, Sansone SA, Antti H, Jonsson P, Daykin C, Navarange M, Beger RD, Verheij ER, Amberg A, Baunsgaard D, Cantor GH, Lehman-McKeeman L, Earll M, Wold S, Johansson E, Haselden JN, Kramer K, Thomas C, Lindberg J, Schuppe-Koistinen I, Wilson ID, Reily MD, Robertson DG, Senn H, Krotzky A, Kochhar S, Powell J, van der Ouderaa F, Plumb R, Schaefer H, Spraul M; Standard Metabolic Reporting Structures working group. Summary recommendations for standardization and reporting of metabolic analyses. Nat Biotechnol. 2005 Jul [cited 2018 Apr 13];23(7):833-8. PubMed PMID: 16003371.
SPIRIT Statement: Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials	The SPIRIT 2013 Statement is a 33-item checklist that recommend a minimum set of data to include in a clinical trial protocol.
SQUIRE Revised Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence	The SQUIRE Guidelines help authors write usable articles about quality improvement in healthcare so that results are findable and widely distributed.
SRQR: Standards for reporting qualitative research: a synthesis of recommendations	How to report qualitative research.
STARD 2015: STAndards for the Reporting of Diagnostic accuracy	Aims to improve the accuracy and completeness of reporting of studies of diagnostic accuracy, to allow readers to assess the potential for bias in the study (internal validity) and to evaluate its generalizability. Checklist contains 34-items.
STARE-HI: Statement on Reporting of Evaluation Studies in Health Informatics	Used to report health informatics evaluation studies.
STREGA: STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Associations	To promote reporting of genetic association studies. For more information, see the STROBE guidelines.
STRICTA (REVISED STRICTA): STandards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (A CONSORT Supplement)	Designed as a supplement to CONSORT, which has led to improved reporting of trial design and conduct in general. Current plans are to revise STRICTA in collaboration with the CONSORT Group, such that STRICTA becomes an "official" extension to CONSORT.
STROBE: STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology	Aims to establish a checklist of items to include in articles reporting observational research. These journals refer to STROBE in their Instructions for Authors.
Structured Abstracts, National Library of Medicine (NLM)	Description of structured abstracts and how MEDLINE formats them.
The TRIPOD + AI statement: Updated guidance for reporting clinical prediction models that use regression or machine learning methods	"Reporting of studies that develop a prediction model or evaluate its performance."
WAME: World Association of Medical Editors	Editors of peer-reviewed medical journals

Last Reviewed: April 14, 2023