REPORTING GUIDELINES IN RESEARCH – An Introduction by Dr Suhana P Azis

“Reporting research is as important a part of a study as its design or analysis.” Poorly conducted trials are a waste of time, effort, and money. The most dangerous risk associated with poor-quality reporting is an overestimate of the advantages of a given treatment.  Whatever the outcome of a study, it is really hard for the average reader to interpret and verify the reliability of a poorly reported clinical trial . In turn, this problem could result in changes in clinical practice that are based on false evidence and that may harm patients. Research related to the health of humans should have the potential to advance scientific understanding or improve the treatment or prevention of disease. The expectation is that an account of the research will be published, communicating the results of the research to other interested parties. Publication is generally in the form of articles in scientific journals, which should describe what was done and what was found. Reports of clinical research are important to many groups, especially other researchers, clinicians, systematic reviewers, and patients. 1
Scientific publications are one of the most important outputs of any research, as they are the primary means of sharing the findings with the broader research community. The quality and relevance of research is mostly judged through the published report, which is often the only public record that the research was done. Unclear reporting of a study’s methodology and findings prevents critical appraisal of the study and limits effective dissemination. Inadequate reporting of medical research carries with it an additional risk of inadequate and misleading study results being used by patients and health care providers. Patients may be harmed and scarce health care resources may be expended on ineffective health care treatments through such inadequate reporting. There is a wealth of evidence that much of published medical research is reported poorly . Yet a good report is an essential component of good research. Reporting guidelines, such as the CONSORT(Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) Statement for reporting the findings of randomised controlled trials  can lead to important improvements in the quality and reliability of published research. Since the development of the CONSORT Statement in 1996, several other guidelines have been developed relating to other types of research studies.. At present, no coordination or focused collaboration in the development of reporting guidelines exists as there is in, for example, the clinical practice guidelines field. Guideline development methods vary greatly. Dissemination and implementation of reporting guidelines relies mostly on passive publication of the guidelines, occasionally accompanied by editorials. Reporting guidelines are not routinely used on a large scale, and their potential is not being fully realised. To remedy this situation, the National Knowledge Service of the UK National Health Service provided funds to set up the EQUATOR Network (Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research; http://www.equatornetwork.org/). This new initiative seeks to improve the quality of scientific publications by promoting transparent and accurate reporting. The Network provides resources and training relating to the reporting of health research and assists in the development, dissemination, and implementation of reporting guidelines.2
Homoeopathy with it’s strong presence in the national health scenario of India has  a vast pool of untapped clinical data in the hands of  medical practitioner’s. A systematic effort to streamline the data through proper reporting as through the HOMCASE guidelines or through development of new guidelines catering to the unique principles of homoeopathy will result in a huge database of this modality of treatment which is the need of the hour.
The following are the reporting guidelines for main study types3 -

    Study Types    Reporting guidelines    Expansions

1.    Randomised Trials
    CONSORT    Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials
2.    Observational studies
    STROBE    Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology
3.    Case Reports
    CARE    Consensus-based Clinical Case Reporting Guideline Development
    HOMCASE   
Homeopathic clinical case reports-Development of a supplement to the CARE clinical case reporting guideline
4.    Qualitative research
    SRQR    Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research
5.    Diagnostic/Prognostic Study
    STARD     Standards for Reporting Diagnostic accuracy studies
6.    Systematic Reviews
    PRISMA    Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols
7.    Quality Improvement studies
    SQUIRE   Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence
8.    Economic evaluations
    CHEERS    Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards
9.    Animal pre clinical studies
    ARRIVE    Animal Research-Reporting In Vivo Experiments
10.    Study Protocols
    SPIRIT    Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials

REFERENCES-
Guidelines for Reporting Health Research: A User’sManual, First Edition. Edited by David Moher,
Douglas G. Altman, Kenneth F. Schulz, Iveta Simera and Elizabeth Wager Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050139 ( last accessed on 05.09.2017)
http://www.equator-network.org/ (last accessed on 05.09.2017)


Dr.Suhana P Azis is Research Officer (Homoeopathy), Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy(CCRH), Janakpuri, NewDelhi under the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India