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Requirements for Study Registration and Adherence to Reporting Guidelines in Surgery Journals: A Cross-Sectional Study

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Abstract

Background

Reporting guidelines and study registration can minimize bias and improve the reporting quality of biomedical research, but may not be fully utilized. The objective of this study was to investigate the policies of surgery journals as for reporting guidelines and study registration and explore associated journal characteristic variables.

Methods

Study samples were obtained from the Expanded Science Citation Index of the 2018 Journal Citation Reports (surgery category). The online guides for authors were browsed to identify which journals endorsed reporting guidelines and study registration. The predictors related to the endorsement were explored by using Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis, respectively.

Results

One hundred and eighty-eight surgery journals were included in our study. One hundred and sixty-three journals (86.7%) endorsed reporting guidelines and 103 journals (54.8%) endorsed study registration. About reporting guidelines, ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) recommendations were the most frequently endorsed (n = 155, 82.4%) by journals, followed by CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement (n = 94, 50.0%). About study registration, randomized controlled trial registration was endorsed by 101 (53.7%) journals, whereas the systematic review registration was endorsed by only 9 journals (4.8%). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that not North America, higher JCR (Journal Citation Reports) rank journals were more likely to endorse reporting guidelines and study registration.

Conclusions

Surgery journals frequently use reporting guidelines, but nearly half of journals did not require study registration. Implementing these two mechanisms can prevent bias, and their adoption should be strengthened by authors, reviewers and journal editors in surgery.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Improvement Program for the Education of Graduate Students in Shandong Province, China (Grant No. SDYAL18047), the National Steering Committee for Education of Medical Degree Postgraduate (Grant No. B2-YX20180203-01), 2018 Qingdao University Graduate Case Database Construction Project, without any involvement in writing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, NO. 38 Dengzhou Road, QingdaoShandong Province, 266021, China

    Jing Zhou, Jingao Zhang, Yao Chen & Xiaobin Zhou

  2. Editorial Office of Journal of Precision Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China

    Jianqiang Li & Bo Geng

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  1. Jing Zhou
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  2. Jianqiang Li
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  3. Jingao Zhang
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  6. Xiaobin Zhou
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Correspondence to Xiaobin Zhou.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by the author.

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As this study is based on a publicly available database without identifying patient information, informed consent was not needed.

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Zhou, J., Li, J., Zhang, J. et al. Requirements for Study Registration and Adherence to Reporting Guidelines in Surgery Journals: A Cross-Sectional Study. World J Surg 45, 1031–1042 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-020-05920-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-020-05920-5

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