EQUATOR Network

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The EQUATOR Network
EQUATOR Network logo.png
HeadquartersUniversity of Oxford
URLwww.equator-network.org
CommercialNo
Launched2008
Current statusActive

The Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of health research Network (EQUATOR Network [1] ) is an international initiative aimed at promoting transparent and accurate reporting of health research studies to enhance the value and reliability of medical research literature. [2] The EQUATOR Network is hosted by the University of Oxford, and was established with the goals of raising awareness of the importance of good reporting of research, assisting in the development, dissemination and implementation of reporting guidelines for different types of study designs, monitoring the status of the quality of reporting of research studies in the health sciences literature, and conducting research relating to issues that impact the quality of reporting of health research studies. [3] The Network acts as an "umbrella" organisation, bringing together developers of reporting guidelines, medical journal editors and peer reviewers, research funding bodies, and other key stakeholders with a mutual interest in improving the quality of research publications and research itself. The EQUATOR Network comprises five centres at the University of Oxford (UK, Professor Gary Collins), Bond University (Australia, Professor Paul Glasziou and Professor Tammy Hoffman), Paris Descartes University (France, Professor Philippe Ravaud), Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (Canada, Professor David Moher), and Hong Kong Baptiste University (China, Professor Zhaoxiang Bian).

Contents

History

The EQUATOR Network grew out as part of spin-off projects generated after the work initiated by the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials group and other guideline development groups to alleviate the problems arising from inadequate reporting of randomized controlled trials and other types of health research studies. The EQUATOR project began in March 2006 as part of a one-year project funded by the UK National Knowledge Science, from the National Health Service (NHS). [4] The group founded by Douglas Altman whilst at the University of Oxford planned a program that would develop online resources and training to encourage the use of reporting guidelines in scientific publishing in the health area [5] [6] to improve the quality of reporting of health research studies, identifying key stakeholders engaged in these activities and networking with them.

The first international working meeting of the EQUATOR Network took place in Oxford in 2006 and was attended by 27 participants from 10 countries. [7] Participants at this meeting were reporting guidelines developers, journal editors, peer reviewers, medical writers and research funders. The meeting served as a venue to exchange experiences among participants in developing, using and implementing reporting guidelines and prioritize the main activities that were necessary for the successful start of the EQUATOR Network's efforts.

The EQUATOR Network was formally launched on 26 June 2008 at the Royal Society of Medicine in London, UK. The event also hosted the 1st EQUATOR Annual Lecture presented by Sir Iain Chalmers. In that meeting, the results of a study by Iveta Simera, Douglas Altman, David Moher, Kenneth Schulz and John Hoey, were presented, and published two years later. [8] The study identified the need for a coordinated work between publishers, researchers and funders to improve the quality of the research output.

Since then, the EQUATOR Network has held annual lectures that have been held in Vancouver (Canada) in 2009, Oxford (UK) in 2010, Bristol (UK) in 2011, and Freiburg (Germany) in 2012.

The EQUATOR Network Library

The EQUATOR Network developed and maintains a comprehensive library that provides a collection of publications related to reporting guidelines on scientific writing, empirical evidence supporting or refuting the inclusion of crucial items in reporting guidelines, evaluations of the quality of reporting, publication ethics and educational materials and tools for editors, peer reviewers and researchers. Comprehensive lists of reporting guidelines for the following study types are available in the EQUATOR Network library:

Additional guidelines are available for practical issues relevant to the reporting of health research:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randomized controlled trial</span> Form of scientific experiment

A randomized controlled trial is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical techniques, medical devices, diagnostic procedures, diets or other medical treatments.

In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expectations, observer's effect on the participants, observer bias, confirmation bias, and other sources. A blind can be imposed on any participant of an experiment, including subjects, researchers, technicians, data analysts, and evaluators. In some cases, while blinding would be useful, it is impossible or unethical. For example, it is not possible to blind a patient to their treatment in a physical therapy intervention. A good clinical protocol ensures that blinding is as effective as possible within ethical and practical constraints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical guideline</span> Document with the aim of guiding decisions and criteria in healthcare

A medical guideline is a document with the aim of guiding decisions and criteria regarding diagnosis, management, and treatment in specific areas of healthcare. Such documents have been in use for thousands of years during the entire history of medicine. However, in contrast to previous approaches, which were often based on tradition or authority, modern medical guidelines are based on an examination of current evidence within the paradigm of evidence-based medicine. They usually include summarized consensus statements on best practice in healthcare. A healthcare provider is obliged to know the medical guidelines of their profession, and has to decide whether to follow the recommendations of a guideline for an individual treatment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Systematic review</span> Comprehensive review of research literature using systematic methods

A systematic review is a scholarly synthesis of the evidence on a clearly presented topic using critical methods to identify, define and assess research on the topic. A systematic review extracts and interprets data from published studies on the topic, then analyzes, describes, critically appraises and summarizes interpretations into a refined evidence-based conclusion. For example, a systematic review of randomized controlled trials is a way of summarizing and implementing evidence-based medicine.

In medicine, a case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports may contain a demographic profile of the patient, but usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence. Some case reports also contain a literature review of other reported cases. Case reports are professional narratives that provide feedback on clinical practice guidelines and offer a framework for early signals of effectiveness, adverse events, and cost. They can be shared for medical, scientific, or educational purposes.

In a randomized experiment, allocation concealment hides the sorting of trial participants into treatment groups so that this knowledge cannot be exploited. Adequate allocation concealment serves to prevent study participants from influencing treatment allocations for subjects. Studies with poor allocation concealment are prone to selection bias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doug Altman</span> English statistician (1948–2018)

Douglas Graham Altman FMedSci was an English statistician best known for his work on improving the reliability and reporting of medical research and for highly cited papers on statistical methodology. He was professor of statistics in medicine at the University of Oxford, founder and Director of Centre for Statistics in Medicine and Cancer Research UK Medical Statistics Group, and co-founder of the international Equator Network for health research reliability.

Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) encompasses various initiatives developed by the CONSORT Group to alleviate the problems arising from inadequate reporting of randomized controlled trials. It is part of the larger EQUATOR Network initiative to enhance the transparency and accuracy of reporting in research.

A clinical prediction rule or clinical probability assessment specifies how to use medical signs, symptoms, and other findings to estimate the probability of a specific disease or clinical outcome.

The STROBE(STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology) Statement is a reporting guideline including a checklist of 22 items that are considered essential for good reporting of observational studies. It was published simultaneously in several leading biomedical journals in October and November 2007 and comprises both the checklist and an explanation and elaboration article which gives examples of good reporting and provides authors with more guidance on good reporting. It is also referred to in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and is endorsed by hundreds of biomedical journals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ioannidis</span> American scientist (born 1965)

John P. A. Ioannidis is a Greek-American physician-scientist, writer and Stanford University professor who has made contributions to evidence-based medicine, epidemiology, and clinical research. Ioannidis studies scientific research itself, meta-research primarily in clinical medicine and the social sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses</span>

PRISMA is an evidence-based minimum set of items aimed at helping scientific authors to report a wide array of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, primarily used to assess the benefits and harms of a health care intervention. PRISMA focuses on ways in which authors can ensure a transparent and complete reporting of this type of research. The PRISMA standard superseded the earlier QUOROM standard. It offers the replicability of a systematic literature review. Researchers have to figure out research objectives that answer the research question, states the keywords, a set of exclusion and inclusion criteria. In the review stage, relevant articles were searched, irrelevant ones are removed. Articles are analyzed according to some pre-defined categories.

Alessandro Liberati was an Italian healthcare researcher and clinical epidemiologist, and founder of the Italian Cochrane Centre.

Lesley Ann Stewart is a Scottish academic whose research interests are in the development and application of evidence synthesis methods, particularly systematic reviews and individual participant data meta-analysis. She is head of department for the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York and director for the NIHR Evidence Synthesis Programme. She was one of the founders of the Cochrane Collaboration in 1993. Stewart served as president of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology (2013-2016) and was a founding co-editor in chief of the academic journal Systematic Reviews (2010–2021).

Isabelle Boutron is a professor of epidemiology at the Université Paris Cité and head of the INSERM- METHODS team within the Centre of Research in Epidemiology and Statistics (CRESS). She was originally trained in rheumatology and later switched to a career in epidemiology and public health. She is also deputy director of the French EQUATOR Centre, member of the SPIRIT-CONSORT executive committee, director of Cochrane France and co-convenor of the Bias Methods group of the Cochrane Collaboration.

Metascience is the use of scientific methodology to study science itself. Metascience seeks to increase the quality of scientific research while reducing inefficiency. It is also known as "research on research" and "the science of science", as it uses research methods to study how research is done and find where improvements can be made. Metascience concerns itself with all fields of research and has been described as "a bird's eye view of science". In the words of John Ioannidis, "Science is the best thing that has happened to human beings ... but we can do it better."

Allegiance bias in behavioral sciences is a bias resulted from the investigator's or researcher's allegiance to a specific school of thought. Researchers/investigators have been exposed to many types of branches of psychology or schools of thought. Naturally they adopt a school or branch that fits with their paradigm of thinking. More specifically, allegiance bias is when this leads therapists, researchers, etc. believing that their school of thought or treatment is superior to others. Their superior belief to these certain schools of thought can bias their research in effective treatments trials or investigative situations leading to allegiance bias. Reason being is that they may have devoted their thinking to certain treatments they have seen work in their past experiences. This can lead to errors in interpreting the results of their research. Their “pledge” to stay within their own paradigm of thinking may affect their ability to find more effective treatments to help the patient or situation they are investigating.

The International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews, better known as PROSPERO, is an open access online database of systematic review protocols on a wide range of topics. While it was initially restricted to medicine, as of 2021, it also accepts protocols in criminology, social care, education and international development, as long as there is a health-related outcome. Researchers can choose to have their reviews prospectively registered with PROSPERO. The database is produced by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York in England, and it is funded by the National Institute for Health Research. Registration of systematic reviews in the database has been supported by PLoS Medicine, BioMed Central, the EQUATOR Network, and BMJ editor-in-chief Fiona Godlee, among others.

Virginia M. Barbour is a professor at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and serves as the Director of the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group. She is best known for being one of the three founding editors of PLOS Medicine, and her various roles in championing the open access movement.

non-pharmacological intervention (NPI) is any type of healthcare intervention which is not primarily based on medication. Some examples include exercise, sleep improvement, and dietary habits.

References

  1. ↑ Simera, I; Moher, D; Hirst, A; Hoey, J; Schulz, KF; Altman, DG (2010). "Transparent and accurate reporting increases reliability, utility, and impact of your research: reporting guidelines and the EQUATOR Network". BMC Medicine. 8: 24. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-8-24 . PMC   2874506 . PMID   20420659. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  2. ↑ Simera, I.; Moher, D.; Hoey, J.; Schulz, K. F.; Altman, D. G. (2010). "A catalogue of reporting guidelines for health research". European Journal of Clinical Investigation. 40 (1): 35–53. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2362.2009.02234.x . PMID   20055895.[ dead link ]
  3. ↑ Simera, I; Altman, DG (October 2009). "Writing a research article that is "fit for purpose": EQUATOR Network and reporting guidelines". Evidence-Based Medicine. 14 (5): 132–4. doi:10.1136/ebm.14.5.132. PMID   19794009. S2CID   220165173.
  4. ↑ "A history of the evolution of guidelines for reporting medical research: the long road to the EQUATOR Network". The James Lind Library. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  5. ↑ "Resources in Spanish / Recursos en español | The EQUATOR Network" . Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  6. ↑ "Fond farewells: Celebrating Iveta Simera's decade with the EQUATOR Network | The EQUATOR Network" . Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  7. ↑ History: EQUATOR Network; [Available from: http://www.equator-network.org/about-us/history/ .
  8. ↑ Simera I, Altman DG, Moher D, Schulz KF, Hoey J (2008). "Guidelines for reporting health research: the EQUATOR network's survey of guideline authors". PLOS Med. 5 (6): e139. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0050139 . PMC   2443184 . PMID   18578566.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Chan, An-Wen; Tetzlaff, Jennifer M.; Altman, Douglas G.; Laupacis, Andreas; Gøtzsche, Peter C.; Krleža-Jerić, Karmela; Hróbjartsson, Asbjørn; Mann, Howard; Dickersin, Kay; Berlin, Jesse A.; Doré, Caroline J.; Parulekar, Wendy R.; Summerskill, William S.M.; Groves, Trish; Schulz, Kenneth F. (5 February 2013). "SPIRIT 2013 Statement: Defining Standard Protocol Items for Clinical Trials". Annals of Internal Medicine. 158 (3): 200–207. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-158-3-201302050-00583. ISSN   0003-4819. PMC   5114123 . PMID   23295957.
  10. ↑ Schulz, K. F; Altman, D. G; Moher, D.; for the CONSORT Group (23 March 2010). "CONSORT 2010 Statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials". BMJ. 340 (mar23 1): c332. doi:10.1136/bmj.c332. ISSN   0959-8138. PMC   2844940 . PMID   20332509.
  11. ↑ Elm, Erik von; Altman, Douglas G; Egger, Matthias; Pocock, Stuart J; Gøtzsche, Peter C; Vandenbroucke, Jan P (20 October 2007). "Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies". BMJ. 335 (7624): 806–808. doi:10.1136/bmj.39335.541782.AD. ISSN   0959-8138. PMC   2034723 . PMID   17947786.
  12. ↑ Gagnier, Joel J.; Kienle, Gunver; Altman, Douglas G.; Moher, David; Sox, Harold; Riley, David (2013). "The CARE Guidelines: Consensus-based Clinical Case Reporting Guideline Development". Global Advances in Health and Medicine. 2 (5): 38–43. doi:10.7453/gahmj.2013.008. ISSN   2164-9561. PMC   3833570 . PMID   24416692.
  13. ↑ Bossuyt, Patrick M; Reitsma, Johannes B; Bruns, David E; Gatsonis, Constantine A; Glasziou, Paul P; Irwig, Les; Lijmer, Jeroen G; Moher, David; Rennie, Drummond; de Vet, Henrica C W; Kressel, Herbert Y; Rifai, Nader; Golub, Robert M; Altman, Douglas G; Hooft, Lotty (28 October 2015). "STARD 2015: an updated list of essential items for reporting diagnostic accuracy studies". BMJ. 351: h5527. doi:10.1136/bmj.h5527. ISSN   1756-1833. PMC   4623764 . PMID   26511519.
  14. ↑ Collins, Gary S.; Reitsma, Johannes B.; Altman, Douglas G.; Moons, Karel G.M. (6 January 2015). "Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis Or Diagnosis (TRIPOD): The TRIPOD Statement". Annals of Internal Medicine. 162 (1): 55–63. doi:10.7326/M14-0697. hdl: 1874/333473 . ISSN   0003-4819. PMID   25560714.
  15. ↑ Page, Matthew J; McKenzie, Joanne E; Bossuyt, Patrick M; Boutron, Isabelle; Hoffmann, Tammy C; Mulrow, Cynthia D; Shamseer, Larissa; Tetzlaff, Jennifer M; Akl, Elie A; Brennan, Sue E; Chou, Roger; Glanville, Julie; Grimshaw, Jeremy M; Hróbjartsson, Asbjørn; Lalu, Manoj M (29 March 2021). "The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews". BMJ. 372: n71. doi:10.1136/bmj.n71. ISSN   1756-1833. PMC   8005924 . PMID   33782057.
  16. ↑ PRISMA-P Group; Moher, David; Shamseer, Larissa; Clarke, Mike; Ghersi, Davina; Liberati, Alessandro; Petticrew, Mark; Shekelle, Paul; Stewart, Lesley A (2015). "Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement". Systematic Reviews. 4 (1): 1. doi: 10.1186/2046-4053-4-1 . ISSN   2046-4053. PMC   4320440 . PMID   25554246.
  17. ↑ Snell, Kym I E; Levis, Brooke; Damen, Johanna A A; Dhiman, Paula; Debray, Thomas P A; Hooft, Lotty; Reitsma, Johannes B; Moons, Karel G M; Collins, Gary S; Riley, Richard D (3 May 2023). "Transparent reporting of multivariable prediction models for individual prognosis or diagnosis: checklist for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (TRIPOD-SRMA)". BMJ. 381: e073538. doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-073538. ISSN   1756-1833. PMC   10155050 . PMID   37137496.
  18. ↑ O’Brien, Bridget C.; Harris, Ilene B.; Beckman, Thomas J.; Reed, Darcy A.; Cook, David A. (2014). "Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research: A Synthesis of Recommendations". Academic Medicine. 89 (9): 1245–1251. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000000388. ISSN   1040-2446. PMID   24979285.
  19. ↑ Tong, A.; Sainsbury, P.; Craig, J. (16 September 2007). "Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups". International Journal for Quality in Health Care. 19 (6): 349–357. doi:10.1093/intqhc/mzm042. ISSN   1353-4505. PMID   17872937.
  20. ↑ Percie du Sert, Nathalie; Hurst, Viki; Ahluwalia, Amrita; Alam, Sabina; Avey, Marc T.; Baker, Monya; Browne, William J.; Clark, Alejandra; Cuthill, Innes C.; Dirnagl, Ulrich; Emerson, Michael; Garner, Paul; Holgate, Stephen T.; Howells, David W.; Karp, Natasha A. (14 July 2020). Boutron, Isabelle (ed.). "The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research". PLOS Biology. 18 (7): e3000410. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410 . ISSN   1545-7885. PMC   7360023 . PMID   32663219.
  21. ↑ Stevens, Gretchen A; Alkema, Leontine; Black, Robert E; Boerma, J Ties; Collins, Gary S; Ezzati, Majid; Grove, John T; Hogan, Daniel R; Hogan, Margaret C; Horton, Richard; Lawn, Joy E; Marušić, Ana; Mathers, Colin D; Murray, Christopher J L; Rudan, Igor (2016). "Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting: the GATHER statement". The Lancet. 388 (10062): e19–e23. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30388-9. hdl: 20.500.11820/e4565dab-c865-415c-ae89-a4654eb6fc2a . PMID   27371184.
  22. ↑ Husereau, Don; Drummond, Michael; Augustovski, Federico; de Bekker-Grob, Esther; Briggs, Andrew H; Carswell, Chris; Caulley, Lisa; Chaiyakunapruk, Nathorn; Greenberg, Dan; Loder, Elizabeth; Mauskopf, Josephine; Mullins, C Daniel; Petrou, Stavros; Pwu, Raoh-Fang; Staniszewska, Sophie (11 January 2022). "Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards 2022 (CHEERS 2022) statement: updated reporting guidance for health economic evaluations". BMJ. 376: e067975. doi:10.1136/bmj-2021-067975. ISSN   1756-1833. PMC   8749494 . PMID   35017145.
  23. ↑ Ogrinc, Greg; Davies, Louise; Goodman, Daisy; Batalden, Paul; Davidoff, Frank; Stevens, David (2016). "SQUIRE 2.0 ( Standards for QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence) : revised publication guidelines from a detailed consensus process: Table 1". BMJ Quality & Safety. 25 (12): 986–992. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004411. ISSN   2044-5415. PMC   5256233 . PMID   26369893.
  24. ↑ Little, Julian; Higgins, Julian P. T.; Ioannidis, John P. A.; Moher, David; Gagnon, France; von Elm, Erik; Khoury, Muin J.; Cohen, Barbara; Davey-Smith, George; Grimshaw, Jeremy; Scheet, Paul; Gwinn, Marta; Williamson, Robin E.; Zou, Guang Yong; Hutchings, Kim (2009). "STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Association Studies (STREGA)—an extension of the STROBE statement". Genetic Epidemiology. 33 (7): 581–598. doi:10.1002/gepi.20410. hdl: 1765/50806 . ISSN   0741-0395. PMID   19278015.
  25. ↑ Collins, Gary S; Moons, Karel G M; Dhiman, Paula; Riley, Richard D; Beam, Andrew L; Van Calster, Ben; Ghassemi, Marzyeh; Liu, Xiaoxuan; Reitsma, Johannes B; van Smeden, Maarten; Boulesteix, Anne-Laure; Camaradou, Jennifer Catherine; Celi, Leo Anthony; Denaxas, Spiros; Denniston, Alastair K (16 April 2024). "TRIPOD+AI statement: updated guidance for reporting clinical prediction models that use regression or machine learning methods". BMJ. 385: e078378. doi:10.1136/bmj-2023-078378. ISSN   1756-1833. PMC   11019967 . PMID   38626948.
  26. ↑ Liu, Xiaoxuan; Cruz Rivera, Samantha; Moher, David; Calvert, Melanie J.; Denniston, Alastair K.; The SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI Working Group; SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI Steering Group; Chan, An-Wen; Darzi, Ara; Holmes, Christopher; Yau, Christopher; Ashrafian, Hutan; Deeks, Jonathan J.; Ferrante di Ruffano, Lavinia; Faes, Livia (2020). "Reporting guidelines for clinical trial reports for interventions involving artificial intelligence: the CONSORT-AI extension". Nature Medicine. 26 (9): 1364–1374. doi:10.1038/s41591-020-1034-x. ISSN   1078-8956. PMC   7598943 . PMID   32908283.
  27. ↑ Vasey, Baptiste; Nagendran, Myura; Campbell, Bruce; Clifton, David A; Collins, Gary S; Denaxas, Spiros; Denniston, Alastair K; Faes, Livia; Geerts, Bart; Ibrahim, Mudathir; Liu, Xiaoxuan; Mateen, Bilal A; Mathur, Piyush; McCradden, Melissa D; Morgan, Lauren (18 May 2022). "Reporting guideline for the early stage clinical evaluation of decision support systems driven by artificial intelligence: DECIDE-AI". BMJ. 377: e070904. doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-070904. ISSN   1756-1833. PMC   9116198 . PMID   35584845.
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