Reporting guidelines for oncology research: helping to maximise the impact of your research

Abstract

Many reports of health research omit important information needed to assess their methodological robustness and clinical relevance. Without clear and complete reporting, it is not possible to identify flaws or biases, reproduce successful interventions, or use the findings in systematic reviews or meta-analyses. The EQUATOR Network (http://www.equator-network.org/) promotes responsible reporting and the use of reporting guidelines to improve the accuracy, completeness, and transparency of health research. EQUATOR supports researchers by providing online resources and training. EQUATOR Oncology, a project funded by Cancer Research UK, aims to support cancer researchers reporting their research through the provision of online resources. In this article, our objective is to highlight reporting issues related to oncology research publications and to introduce reporting guidelines that are designed to aid high-quality reporting. We describe generic reporting guidelines for the main study types, and explain how these guidelines should and should not be used. We also describe 37 oncology-specific reporting guidelines, covering different clinical areas (e.g., haematology or urology) and sections of the report (e.g., methods or study characteristics); most of these are little-used. We also provide some background information on EQUATOR Oncology, which focuses on addressing the reporting needs of the oncology research community.

The Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT) applied to exercise interventions in musculoskeletal trials demonstrated good rater agreement and incomplete reporting

“…While the novice did receive training and benefited from a pilot period, others who have used the CERT have reported no difficulties in using the Explanation and Elaboration Statement and Checklist. 54,55 Completeness of reporting has been investigated for the CONSORT Statement [56][57][58][59][60] and the TIDieR Checklist. 7,56 Inter-rater reliability has not been routinely evaluated for reporting guidelines.…”

“…54,55 Completeness of reporting has been investigated for the CONSORT Statement [56][57][58][59][60] and the TIDieR Checklist. 7,56 Inter-rater reliability has not been routinely evaluated for reporting guidelines. We located one example for the TIDieR Checklist 61 in which the authors reported that the PABAK coefficient was 'substantial' or 'almost perfect' (i.e.…”

Proposed minimum information guideline for kidney disease—research and clinical data reporting: a cross-sectional study

“…Promoting such large-scale use could allow for improved data mapping in clinical registries, improving data quality and interoperability 30. As previously exhibited in oncology research, broad adoption of a reporting standard can maximise the value and impact of research studies as well as the associated research data 31. This is because research redundancy is reduced, and interpretable research outputs and comprehensive datasets are produced 31.…”

“…As previously exhibited in oncology research, broad adoption of a reporting standard can maximise the value and impact of research studies as well as the associated research data 31. This is because research redundancy is reduced, and interpretable research outputs and comprehensive datasets are produced 31. A given standard may be more widely adopted if advocated by databases, funding bodies and scientific journals, geared towards kidney disease research, specifically.…”

Proposed Guideline for Minimum Information Stroke Research and Clinical Data Reporting

“…As previously exhibited in oncology research, widespread utilization of the developed reporting guideline can function to reduce data and reporting inconsistency and redundancy across systems, as well as promote collaboration and(or) interoperability between systems (Biology et al, 2000;Hartwell et al, 2012;MacCarthy et al, 2018). Promoting such broad use could allow for improved data mapping in clinical registries, improving data quality and interoperability (Rastegar-Mojarad et al, 2017).…”