New CONSORT statement to improve reporting of trial findings published

Press release from PLoS Medicine

New guidance to improve the reporting of trial findings is published simultaneously today (24 March 2010) by PLoS Medicine and eight other leading journals around the world, BMJ, The Lancet, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Annals of Internal Medicine, Open Medicine, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, BMC Medicine, and Trials. Full and transparent reporting of trials is crucial to ensure that decisions about health care are based on the best available evidence.

The guidance, known as the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement, was first published in 1996 and revised in 2001. It includes a checklist to help authors write reports of randomised controlled trials so that others can judge the reliability and validity of the results.

More than 400 journals and three leading editorial groups across the world have now given their official support to CONSORT.

The latest version, CONSORT 2010, improves the specificity and clarity of the previous checklist. Several new items will also make it easier for decision makers to judge the soundness of trial results. A separate explanatory paper, also published today in BMJ, provides published examples of transparent reporting.

Speaking on behalf of coauthors, Douglas Altman and David Moher, and for the CONSORT Group, Kenneth Schulz, Distinguished Scientist and Vice President of Family Health International in the US emphasises that CONSORT 2010 represents an evolving guideline. He says: "In the future we will further revise the CONSORT material considering comments, criticisms, experiences, and accumulating new evidence. We invite readers to submit recommendations via the CONSORT website (www.consort-statement.org)."