Reporting guidelines under development

The following guidelines are currently being developed:



SPIRIT initiative (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials)

The SPIRIT initiative aims to produce evidence-based recommendations for key information to include in a trial protocol

  • The SPIRIT initiative: Defining Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials. Executive summary (August 2011)
  • Read the BMJ blog about the third SPIRIT meeting held on 2 October 2010
  • Strengthening the credibility of clinical research .The Lancet 2010;375: 1225. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60523-5 (Read the editorial)
  • Chan, A-W; Tetzlaff, J; Altman, DG; Gotzsche, PC; Hrobjartsson, A, et al. The SPIRIT initiative: Defining Standard Protocol Items for Randomized Trials [conference abstract] German J Evid Quality Health Care (suppl). 2008;102:S27
  • Contact: An-Wen Chan, Chair of the SPIRIT initiative, anwen.chan@utoronto.ca


PRISMA-P (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses Protocols)

PRISMA-P extends the PRISMA Statement to provide guidance for optimal reporting of systematic review protocols. A consensus meeting was held in June 2011 and the guidance is expected to be available on EQUATOR in 2012.

Guidelines for reporting the impact of patient and public involvement in research: Strengthening the evidence base of patient and public involvement


Guidelines for the reporting of prognostic (risk prediction) models


WIDER recommendations for reporting of behaviour change interventions


Guidelines for reporting biomedical images in scientific journals



REporting Manualised INterventions for Dissemination and Evaluation (REMINDE) Statement


CONSORT extension for reporting of health related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes from trials



CONSORT extension for reporting randomised controlled trials of social interventions

CENT (CONSORT Extension for N-of-1 Trials)

An official extension of the CONSORT 2010 Statement is underway for reporting N-of-1 trials. This guidance provides a set of essential items to include when preparing reports of prospectively planned, multiple crossover single patient trials, which may or may not be randomized.  The CENT guidance is expected to become available in late 2012.



PRISMA-extension for equity relevant reviews

The REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected Data (RECORD) statement

To develop reporting guidelines for observational studies using health data routinely collected for non-research purposes as an extension of the STROBE statement.



STROBE checklist for conference abstracts

The STORBE Group have recently developed a checklist for conference abstracts. The draft STROBE checklist for abstracts is currently being piloted at the ECCMID conference.


CIRCLe SMT project (Consensus on Interventions Reporting Criteria List Spinal Manipulative Therapy)

Website: www.circle-smt.com
Contact: Ruud Groeneweg, info@circle-smt.com


STROBE-RDS (Reporting guidelines for Respondent Driven Sampling studies)

To develop guidelines for the reporting of Respondent Driven Sampling studies. Adapted from the STORBE guidelines for cross-sectional studies.

  • Download version one of the draft checklist (Mar 2012)
  • Provide feedback and/or register interest in attending the consensus-building reporting guidelines setting meeting by contacting Dr Richard White (Richard.White@lshtm.ac.uk) at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine




Please let us know about relevant projects; it will avoid duplication of the process and might also help you to find new collaborators.


Page last edited: 11 May 2012