J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2020 Dec 1;120(12):823-830. doi: 10.7556/jaoa.2020.148.
Robust methodology and ethical reporting are paramount for quality scientific research, but recently, that quality in addiction research has been questioned. Avenues to improve such research quality include adherence to reporting guidelines and proper usage of clinical trial registries. Reporting guidelines and clinical trial registries have been shown to lead researchers to more ethical and transparent methodology.
To investigate the reporting guideline and clinical trial registration policies of addiction research journals and identify areas of improvement.
We used Google Scholar Metrics' h-5 index to identify the top 20 addiction research journals. We then examined the instructions for authors from each journal to identify whether they required, recommended, or made no mention of trial registration and reporting guidelines, including the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT), Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE), Quality of Reporting of Meta-analyses (QUOROM), Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), Standards for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD), Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE), Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE), Case Reports (CARE), Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS), Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR), Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE), Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT), Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ), Transparent Reporting of a Multivariate Prediction Model for Individual Prognosis or Diagnosis (TRIPOD), Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P), and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines. We performed the same analysis regarding requirements for clinical trial registration.
Of the 20 journals included in this study, 10 journals (50%) did not require adherence to any reporting guidelines. Trial registration followed a similar trend; 15 journals (75%) did not mention any form of trial or systematic review registration, and ClinicalTrials.gov was only recommended by only 1 journal (5%).
Among top addiction medicine journals, required adherence to reporting guidelines and clinical trial registry policies remains substandard. A step toward fulfilling the National Institute on Drug Abuses' call for improvement in transparency and reproducibility within addiction research should include all journals adopting a strict reporting guideline and clinical trial registry adherence policy.
稳健的方法和伦理报告对于高质量的科学研究至关重要，但最近，成瘾研究的质量受到了质疑。提高此类研究质量的途径包括遵守报告准则和正确使用临床试验注册。报告准则和临床试验注册已被证明可引导研究人员采用更符合伦理和透明的方法。
调查成瘾研究期刊的报告准则和临床试验注册政策，并确定需要改进的领域。
我们使用 Google Scholar Metrics 的 h-5 指数确定了前 20 名成瘾研究期刊。然后，我们检查了每个期刊的作者指南，以确定它们是否要求、建议或未提及临床试验和报告准则，包括 CONSORT（临床试验报告的统一标准）、MOOSE（观察性研究的荟萃分析）、QUOROM（荟萃分析报告的质量）、PRISMA（系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目）、STARD（诊断准确性研究的报告标准）、STROBE（观察性研究的强化报告标准）、ARRIVE（动物实验报告）、CARE（病例报告）、CHEERS（健康经济评估报告标准）、SRQR（定性研究报告标准）、SQUIRE（质量改进报告卓越标准）、SPIRIT（干预试验的标准议定书项目）、COREQ（定性研究报告的统一标准）、TRIPOD（个体预后或诊断的多变量预测模型的透明报告）、PRISMA-P（系统评价和荟萃分析方案的首选报告项目）和国际医学期刊编辑委员会（ICMJE）指南。我们对临床试验注册的要求进行了相同的分析。
在本研究中包括的 20 种期刊中，有 10 种（50%）期刊不要求遵守任何报告准则。临床试验注册也呈现出类似的趋势；15 种期刊（75%）未提及任何形式的试验或系统评价注册，只有 1 种期刊（5%）推荐使用 ClinicalTrials.gov。
在顶级成瘾医学期刊中，要求遵守报告准则和临床试验登记政策仍然不达标。为了满足国家药物滥用研究所（National Institute on Drug Abuses）提高成瘾研究透明度和可重复性的呼吁，应该包括所有期刊采用严格的报告准则和临床试验登记遵守政策。
