Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency of health Research: The EQUATOR Network

提高健康研究的质量和透明度：EQUATOR 网络

• 批准号: MR/J00488X/1
• 负责人: Douglas Altman
• 金额: $ 48.78万
• 依托单位: Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FJ00488X%2F1
• 关键词: Enhancing; QUAlity; Transparency; health; Research

Every year scientific journals publish tens of thousands of articles describing findings from health research studies. However, readers and users of these articles, who include scientists, clinicians, systematic reviewers, and increasingly also patients, find many of these articles very difficult or impossible to use: many articles do not present enough information, present only selected information, or present information in a very unclear and misleading way. All this makes many papers unusable. The effort and money devoted to the research described in such an unsatisfactory manner is wasted. A simple solution to improve the completeness, accuracy and clarity of research papers is to follow reporting guidelines. Many guidelines exist that provide step by step guidance of what should be addressed in a paper reporting on a particular type of health research. These guidelines have been developed from the users' perspective and guide authors to provide minimum information a user needs to assess how well was the study done, to decide if the findings are relevant to his/her own work, and if needed to reproduce the study (ie. what was actually done and to whom, what was assessed and how, how were these findings analysed, and what they actually mean in the context of other similar studies). Although many good guidelines exist they are still not widely known and used by health scientists. Recent reviews of publications consistently show that essential information is missing from a large proportion of research articles. In this time of massive information overload it is important to have a single good quality resource where you can easily find all relevant information you need. In 2008, we launched the EQUATOR programme that aims to enhance the quality and transparency of health research. One of the most important outputs of this programme is a free online Library for Health Research Reporting that brings together all published reporting guidelines and other helpful tools that aid the writing and publication of research reports and thus improve the information provided to readers. The EQUATOR team educates scientist and journal editors, who play a key role in safeguarding the quality of published papers, to increase their knowledge of what should be included in research papers and how best to achieve it. EQUATOR also helps scientists to develop high quality reporting guidelines and conducts research investigating problems in research reporting. Our proposal outlines specific deliverables and activities for the next three years that will further advance the programme. The main outputs include: improved structure and content of our Library; development of unique EQUATOR 'signature' courses supporting rigorous research reporting; compilation of a manual for the development of robust reporting guidelines; a research report summarising the use of reporting guidelines by selected priority journals; and a database of evaluations of reporting quality of scientific papers across health research specialties. Medical journals publish large numbers of research reports that are of limited value because of crucial omissions. This waste is avoidable. The EQUATOR website and training can be compared to a well stocked and well promoted supermarket where you can get everything you need to write and publish first class research papers. The knowledge of what needs to be included in research papers that are clear and easy to use also improves the design of future research studies. Our work helps to improve usability and usefulness of published medical research and helps scientists to become outstanding research communicators.

每年，科学期刊都会发表数万篇文章，描述健康研究的发现。然而，这些文章的读者和使用者，包括科学家、临床医生、系统评价者，以及越来越多的患者，发现这些文章中的许多文章非常难以或不可能用途：许多文章没有提供足够的信息，仅提供选定的信息，或以非常不清楚和误导的方式提供信息。所有这些都使得许多文件无法使用。以这种不令人满意的方式描述的研究所付出的努力和金钱是浪费的。提高研究论文的完整性、准确性和清晰度的一个简单解决方案是遵循报告准则。有许多指南提供了一步一步的指导，说明在报告特定类型的健康研究的论文中应该解决什么问题。这些指南是从用户的角度制定的，并指导作者提供用户评估研究完成情况所需的最低信息，以决定研究结果是否与他/她自己的工作相关，以及是否需要复制研究（即。实际上做了什么，对谁做了什么，评估了什么，如何评估，如何分析这些调查结果，以及它们在其他类似研究中的实际意义）。虽然有许多好的指南，但它们仍然没有被健康科学家广泛了解和使用。最近对出版物的审查一致表明，很大一部分研究文章缺少必要的信息。 在这个大量信息过载的时代，拥有一个高质量的资源是很重要的，在那里你可以很容易地找到你需要的所有相关信息。2008年，我们启动了EQUATOR计划，旨在提高卫生研究的质量和透明度。该计划最重要的成果之一是建立了一个免费的在线健康研究报告图书馆，汇集了所有已出版的报告指南和其他有用的工具，有助于编写和出版研究报告，从而改善向读者提供的信息。EQUATOR团队对科学家和期刊编辑进行教育，他们在保证发表论文的质量方面发挥着关键作用，以增加他们对研究论文应包含哪些内容以及如何最好地实现这一目标的知识。EQUATOR还帮助科学家制定高质量的报告指南，并对研究报告中的问题进行研究调查。 我们的提案概述了今后三年将进一步推进该方案的具体交付成果和活动。主要产出包括：改进了图书馆的结构和内容;开发了独特的EQUATOR“签名”课程，支持严格的研究报告;编写了一本手册，用于制定强有力的报告指南;一份研究报告，总结了选定的优先期刊对报告指南的使用情况;以及一个评估健康研究专业科学论文报告质量的数据库。 医学期刊发表了大量的研究报告，由于关键的遗漏，这些报告的价值有限。这种浪费是可以避免的。EQUATOR网站和培训可以被比作一个库存充足、宣传良好的超市，在那里你可以得到撰写和发表一流研究论文所需的一切。清楚和易于使用的研究论文中需要包括哪些内容的知识也可以改善未来研究的设计。我们的工作有助于提高已发表医学研究的可用性和实用性，并帮助科学家成为杰出的研究传播者。

项目成果

Impact of an online writing aid tool for writing a randomized trial report: the COBWEB (Consort-based WEB tool) randomized controlled trial.

• DOI: 10.1186/s12916-015-0460-y
• 发表时间: 2015-09-15
• 期刊: BMC medicine
• 影响因子: 9.3
• 作者: Barnes C;Boutron I;Giraudeau B;Porcher R;Altman DG;Ravaud P
• 通讯作者: Ravaud P

The REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected health Data (RECORD) statement.

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001885
• 发表时间: 2015-10
• 期刊: PLoS medicine
• 影响因子: 15.8
• 作者: Benchimol EI;Smeeth L;Guttmann A;Harron K;Moher D;Petersen I;Sørensen HT;von Elm E;Langan SM;RECORD Working Committee
• 通讯作者: RECORD Working Committee