How to support EQUATOR

By supporting the EQUATOR Network’s effort and by promoting the use of its resources you can significantly contribute to the wider implementation of reporting guidelines.

The EQUATOR Network aims to improve the reliability and value of health research literature by promoting responsible research reporting and the use of reporting guidelines for health research studies.

By supporting the EQUATOR Network’s effort and by promoting the use of its resources you can significantly contribute to the wider implementation of robust reporting guidelines and to the increased reliability of health research literature.

Reporting guidelines are a relatively new phenomenon but evidence of their positive influence on the quality of published research reports is already emerging.

Only large-scale support can generate meaningful change in people’s behaviour as seen recently with the quick adoption of clinical trials registration requirements.

How can I actively support the EQUATOR Network’s effort?

• Journals
• Editorial organisations
• Research funding organisations
• Other organisations
• Reporting guidelines developers
• Authors of research articles
• Librarians/Information Specialists

 

Journals:

• Link to the EQUATOR Network website in your ‘Instructions to Authors’
• Alert authors to the available reporting guidelines and motivate their use:
  • clearly describe the purpose of reporting guidelines – they are to help authors to include all important information about their research, which can increase the probability of their manuscript being published and enhance the value of their research to clinicians and other researchers
  • provide clear instructions on how you expect authors to use appropriate guidelines, including a clear statement of the degree of compliance with relevant guidelines that is expected; ambiguous instructions will not encourage adherence
  • link to the appropriate guidelines, through either the EQUATOR or individual guideline website, as these provide the current version, and make checklists available to download
• Alert your peer reviewers to the available reporting guidelines, the EQUATOR Peer Review toolkit and ask them to use relevant guidelines / checklists during their manuscript assessment
• Share your knowledge about reporting guidelines, the EQUATOR Network, the EQUATOR Journals toolkit with your editor colleagues, and consider subscribing to the EQUATOR Newsletter alerting you to new developments in health research reporting and available education and training courses

Editorial organisations:

• Provide reference to the EQUATOR Network on your website
• Inform your members about the existence of the EQUATOR website and its resources

Research funding organisations:

• Request accurate and transparent reporting of the project you fund by stating this requirement within the conditions of providing funds
• Refer to the EQUATOR Network’s resources, including relevant reporting guidelines, on your website

Other organisations:

• Promote and support accurate and transparent reporting of health research studies
• Refer to the EQUATOR Network’s resources, including relevant reporting guidelines, on your website

Reporting guideline developers:

• Let us know about your guideline, guideline development plans or update
• Consult and promote the EQUATOR toolkit on how to develop a reporting guideline

Authors of research articles (researchers, clinicians, medical writers, etc.):

• Find out about reporting requirements when planning your research study (e.g. some journals recommend authors to read the CONSORT Statement when planning a randomised trial even before starting participants’ recruitment)
• When writing up your research, check the EQUATOR website for any new relevant guidelines
• Adhere to the relevant reporting guideline(s); when not reporting on certain items explain why. Remember that reporting guidelines provide a minimum set of items; other details specific to your particular study might be relevant for a clear and complete account of what was done and found (consider in particular items that might have introduced bias into your research). It is important to provide enough information to allow your study to potentially be reproducible by others
• Alert your colleagues, students and other collaborators to the EQUATOR website

Librarians/Information Specialists

• Include details about reporting guidelines in library bulletins
• Link to the EQUATOR Network website resources or to individual reporting guidelines from your library website pages
• Include information about reporting guidelines in library induction sessions
• Hold research reporting workshops
• When supporting the work of clinicians and researchers mention relevant reporting guidelines and how to locate them
• When presenting the results of literature searches to researchers alert them to the appropriate reporting guideline for reporting their study
• Visit the EQUATOR Librarian Network page for resources and links

Please express your support for the EQUATOR Network and allow us to add the name of your organisation to our list of endorsers.

Organisations endorsing EQUATOR

See a list of organisations (journals, editorial groups, etc.) that endorse the EQUATOR Network.