The BMJ has published a new reporting guideline aiming to improve accuracy and completeness of published description of interventions.

Hoffmann T. et al. Better reporting of interventions: the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist and guide. BMJ 2014; 348:g1687

See also the full record on the EQUATOR website.

Watch the video (YouTube) introducing TIDieR.

Douglas Grindlay and colleagues conducted a study aiming to assess the knowledge and views of veterinary Editors-in-Chief on reporting guidelines, identify the policies of their journals, and determine their information needs.

Full text of the paper is available at BMC Veterinary Research 2014, 10:10

The EQUATOR Network is seeking to employ an experienced and motivated co-ordinator to support its expanding activities. This is an exciting and challenging opportunity that will appeal to a person who enjoys working in a small team, undertaking a variety of tasks, dealing with people, is proactive and able to manage their own workload.

The successful candidate will:
a) Organise and co-ordinate EQUATOR activities
b) Support all forms of EQUATOR online presence and programme dissemination
c) Monitor EQUATOR finances and assist in preparation of budgets and grant applications

The appointment will be made for 2 years in the first instance with the potential for further renewal and professional growth. Salary will be in the range £ 21,388 27,901 per annum depending on qualifications and experience (NHS Agenda for Change Band 5). The post is available immediately.

The International Journal of Medical Students is an online peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal, created to share the scientific production and experiences of medical students worldwide.

Authors are asked to sign Declaration of transparency as part of their submission checklist.

Francis S. Collins and Lawrence A. Tabak, directors of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), discuss initiatives that the NHS is exploring to restore the self-correcting nature of preclinical research.

Read the full article in Nature 2014;505:613

A new video of leaders who gave birth to Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) features valuable oral histories of the EBM movement. Evidence-based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. JAMA and the BMJ invited those who helped lead the development of EBM to participate in an oral history event and filming. Videos of this event and of interviews with other EBM leaders have been woven together to create “Evidence-Based Medicine: An Oral History”.

The video features EBM leaders’ perspectives on the past, present, and future of EBM, some of the barriers and controversies associated with the EBM movement, and personal reflections of clinical and patient encounters and shared decision making in the context of EBM.

An accompanying editorial by Richard Smith, MBChB, CBE, of the UnitedHealth Chronic Disease Initiative in London, and formerly editor, BMJ, and Drummond Rennie, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, and formerly contributing deputy editor, JAMA, discuss evidence-based medicine (EBM) and the important contributions of various individuals. The editorial was published simultaneously in JAMA and the BMJ.

The Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing is a statement drafted in collaboration between the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA).

These organisations strongly encourage journal editors and publishers to review the principles and criteria and consider whether their journals meet the criteria. Editors with regional associations are encouraged to share the principles with their organizations.

For any feedback contact Dr Margaret Winker [email protected]

The BMJ reports on a new European Union legislation on clinical trials that is now being finalised. To enhance transparency the new European trial register will be operated by the European Medicines Agency. All clinical trials in the European Union will have to be registered and a summary of results uploaded within a year of the trial’s completion.

Professor Bernard Burnand, director of the Swiss branch of the Cochrane Collaboration expressed his and the Cochrane Switzerland support (PDF) to the work accomplished in the framework of the EQUATOR Network.

We also received expression of full support (PDF) to transparent and accurate research reporting and the work of the EQUATOR Network from the Pan American Health Organization.

We encourage more organisations to express their commitment to accurate and transparent reporting. To join the organisations supporting EQUATOR and its mission please email Iveta Simera ([email protected])