Reporting Guidelines

Reporting Guidelines

To ensure that articles published in BMJ Open journals have high standards of transparency and reproducibility, we strongly encourage authors to use appropriate reporting guidelines when preparing and submitting their articles. We also support our editors and reviewers in the use of these guidelines to aid their assessment of articles during the peer review process.

What are reporting guidelines?

Reporting guidelines outline the information needed in an article about research using a particular study design, as defined by experts in the field. They are structured tools that usually include a checklist to be completed by the authors, along with other documents such as flowcharts. Reporting guidelines aim to ensure that the research articles can be:

• Understood by a researcher.
• Replicated by a researcher.
• Included in a systematic review.

Which reporting guideline should I use?

We endorse the EQUATOR Network and FAIRsharing, which list clinical and general science guidelines, respectively. For the most common study designs, we recommend the following:

Are reporting guidelines mandated?

While authors are not currently required to complete checklists on submission, we strongly encourage the use of relevant reporting guidelines when preparing research articles. Our reviewers and editors are also encouraged to refer to these guidelines during the peer review process.

We are considering enforcing several reporting standards in the future.