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Adoption of CONSORT Statements for Randomized Control Trials Published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing
EDITORIAL Adoption of CONSORT Statements for Randomized Control Trials Published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing We are pleased to announce our editorial decision to adopt the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement guidelines for the publication of randomized control trials (RCTs) in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing (JPN; CONSORT, 2010a). The CONSORT Statement, developed by the CONSORT Group, delineates the recommendations of items that are to be included in RCT publications to assure appropriate and complete reporting. Ultimately, the CONSORT Statement guidelines were developed to enhance transparency and to foster publication standardization and additional analyses of RCTs for evidence-based application. These recommendations are contained within a useful reference checklist that provides authors with specific directions for writing RCT manuscripts (CONSORT, 2010a). The CONSORT Statement has been adopted primarily by medical journals, but also some nursing journals as well. Nursing Research and Nursing Outlook are examples of journals that have adopted these guidelines (CONSORT, 2010b). Beginning in the early 1990s, two international groups of experts recognizing the problems with the reporting of RCTs and generated by the impetus to improve their reporting, formulated the first sets of RCTs reporting guidelines. Shortly afterward, the work of each of these groups, the Asilomar Working Group's, Recommendations for Reporting of Clinical Trials in Biomedical Literature and the Standardized Reporting of Trials statement by Canadian experts were merged under the leadership of the Journal of the American Medical Association to produce the first CONSORT Statement in 1996. Subsequent revisions of the CONSORT Statement were published in 2001 and 2010 (Consort n.d., “How Consort Began,” para 2, 3, 4). The adoption of reporting guidelines for health care research studies by professional journals is a publication trend that will become more evident in the future. Currently, a 0882-5963/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2011.02.001
number of publication guidelines for various types of research studies have been developed. (For additional information, the reader is referred to the EQUATOR Network website listed below, which contains the complication of health research reporting guidelines; Equator Network: Enhancing the quality and transparency of health research, n.d.) The adoption of reporting guidelines by interdisciplinary journals in health care will assist authors in the composition of their submissions and reviewers to assess the merits of manuscripts. Ultimately, the contributions to the body of knowledge in the specialty areas of clinical practice for the care of infants, children, youth, and emerging adults will be enhanced as the findings of published studies will have met more rigorous standards of review. Standardization of published studies in health care, such as RCTs, will facilitate the analysis of findings as found in systematic reviews and meta-analyses that are vital to the development of evidence-based approaches to care. This announcement is preceded by the recent editorial announcement of the adoption of SQUIRE guidelines for quality improvement studies (Green, 2010). Both of these publication guidelines were reviewed and approved by the JPN Editorial Board. My thanks to the Editorial Board members and Dr. Angela Green, the Associate Editor, who provided their insightful comments and wise counsel in this regard. We anticipate more announcements pertaining to the adoption of additional publication guidelines for other types of research papers. For authors, the link to the CONSORT Statement can be found on the home page of JPN. For those who serve as manuscript reviewers, these guidelines will be available in the event you are asked to review an RCT submission. For the readers, we expect that the adoption of publication guidelines for research and quality improvement studies will enhance the quality of articles published in JPN. For those of you interested in learning more about the Consort Statement guidelines for RCT, the Web site address is: http://www.consort-statement.org/home/. Cecily L. Betz PhD, RN, FAAN Editor-in-Chief E-mail address: [email protected]
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References CONSORT (2010a). The checklist. Accessed on January 31, 2011 from http://www.consort-statement.org/consort-statement/overview0. CONSORT (2010b). CONSORT endorsers—Journals. Accessed on January 31, 2011 from http://www.consort-statement.org/about-consort/ supporters/consort-endorsers—journals/.
Editorial CONSORT (n.d.). How CONSORT began. Accessed on January 31, 2011 from http://www.consort-statement.org/about-consort/history/. Equator Network: Enhancing the quality and transparency of health research (n.d.). Accessed on January 31, 2011 from http://www.equator-network. org/home/. Green, A. (2010). Quality improvement articles: Maximizing the impact through adoption of the standards for quality improvement reporting excellence guidelines. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 25, 461−462.
number of publication guidelines for various types of research studies have been developed. (For additional information, the reader is referred to the EQUATOR Network website listed below, which contains the complication of health research reporting guidelines; Equator Network: Enhancing the quality and transparency of health research, n.d.) The adoption of reporting guidelines by interdisciplinary journals in health care will assist authors in the composition of their submissions and reviewers to assess the merits of manuscripts. Ultimately, the contributions to the body of knowledge in the specialty areas of clinical practice for the care of infants, children, youth, and emerging adults will be enhanced as the findings of published studies will have met more rigorous standards of review. Standardization of published studies in health care, such as RCTs, will facilitate the analysis of findings as found in systematic reviews and meta-analyses that are vital to the development of evidence-based approaches to care. This announcement is preceded by the recent editorial announcement of the adoption of SQUIRE guidelines for quality improvement studies (Green, 2010). Both of these publication guidelines were reviewed and approved by the JPN Editorial Board. My thanks to the Editorial Board members and Dr. Angela Green, the Associate Editor, who provided their insightful comments and wise counsel in this regard. We anticipate more announcements pertaining to the adoption of additional publication guidelines for other types of research papers. For authors, the link to the CONSORT Statement can be found on the home page of JPN. For those who serve as manuscript reviewers, these guidelines will be available in the event you are asked to review an RCT submission. For the readers, we expect that the adoption of publication guidelines for research and quality improvement studies will enhance the quality of articles published in JPN. For those of you interested in learning more about the Consort Statement guidelines for RCT, the Web site address is: http://www.consort-statement.org/home/. Cecily L. Betz PhD, RN, FAAN Editor-in-Chief E-mail address: [email protected]
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References CONSORT (2010a). The checklist. Accessed on January 31, 2011 from http://www.consort-statement.org/consort-statement/overview0. CONSORT (2010b). CONSORT endorsers—Journals. Accessed on January 31, 2011 from http://www.consort-statement.org/about-consort/ supporters/consort-endorsers—journals/.
Editorial CONSORT (n.d.). How CONSORT began. Accessed on January 31, 2011 from http://www.consort-statement.org/about-consort/history/. Equator Network: Enhancing the quality and transparency of health research (n.d.). Accessed on January 31, 2011 from http://www.equator-network. org/home/. Green, A. (2010). Quality improvement articles: Maximizing the impact through adoption of the standards for quality improvement reporting excellence guidelines. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 25, 461−462.