Hagood Alex, Case Joseph, Magee Trevor, Smith Caleb, Nees Danya, Hughes Griffin, Vassar Matt
Office of Medical Student Research, Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Tulsa, United States.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States.
PeerJ. 2024 Dec 10;12:e18619. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18619. eCollection 2024.
Over the years, funding for urologic diseases has witnessed a steady rise, reaching $587 million in 2020 from $541 million in 2018. In parallel, there has been a notable increase in the total number of urology journals from 2011 to 2018. This surge in research funding and journal publications calls for urologists to effectively navigate through a vast body of evidence to make the best evidence-based clinical decisions. Our primary objective was to assess the "instructions for authors" of these journals to determine the extent of endorsement of reporting guidelines for common study designs in medical research.
Top urology journals were identified using the 2021 Scopus CiteScore and confirmed Google Scholar Metrics h5-index. In a masked, duplicate manner, two investigators retrieved data from the "instructions for authors" webpages of the included journals. For each journal investigated in our study, the following data were extracted: journal title, 5-year impact factor, email responses of journal editors, mention of the EQUATOR Network in the "instructions for authors," mention of the ICMJE in the "instruction for authors," geographical region of publication and statements about clinical trial registration.
Of the 92 urology journals examined, only one-third (32/92) mentioned the EQUATOR network in their "instructions for authors." A total of 17 journals (17/92, 18.5%) did not mention a single reporting guideline. The most endorsed guideline was CONSORT at 67.4% (62/92). Clinical trial registration was not mentioned by 28 (30%), recommended by 27 (29%), and required by 37 journals (40%).
Our findings indicate that urology journals inconsistently endorse reporting guidelines and clinical trial registration. Based on these results, we propose that urology journals adopt a standardized approach, incorporating explicit requirements for reporting guidelines such as those listed on the EQUATOR Network and clinical trial registration for all relevant study designs. Specifically, journals should consider clearly stating mandatory or recommended guidelines for clinical trials, observational studies, and systematic reviews, among others. Future efforts should focus on evaluating the implementation of these policies and identifying barriers that hinder their adoption.
多年来，用于泌尿系统疾病的资金一直在稳步增长，从2018年的5.41亿美元增至2020年的5.87亿美元。与此同时，2011年至2018年期间，泌尿学杂志的总数显著增加。研究资金和期刊出版物的激增要求泌尿科医生有效地梳理大量证据，以做出最佳的循证临床决策。我们的主要目标是评估这些期刊的“作者须知”，以确定医学研究中常见研究设计报告指南的认可程度。
使用2021年Scopus CiteScore和经确认的谷歌学术指标h5指数来确定顶级泌尿学杂志。两名研究人员以盲法、重复的方式从纳入期刊的“作者须知”网页中检索数据。对于我们研究中调查的每种期刊，提取以下数据：期刊名称、5年影响因子、期刊编辑的电子邮件回复、“作者须知”中对赤道网络的提及、“作者须知”中对国际医学期刊编辑委员会（ICMJE）的提及、出版地区以及关于临床试验注册的声明。
在审查的92种泌尿学杂志中，只有三分之一（32/92）在其“作者须知”中提到了赤道网络。共有17种期刊（17/92，18.5%）未提及任何一项报告指南。得到最广泛认可的指南是CONSORT，认可率为67.4%（62/92）。28种期刊（30%）未提及临床试验注册，27种期刊（29%）推荐进行临床试验注册，37种期刊（40%）要求进行临床试验注册。
我们的研究结果表明，泌尿学杂志对报告指南和临床试验注册的认可不一致。基于这些结果，我们建议泌尿学杂志采用标准化方法，纳入对报告指南的明确要求，如赤道网络列出的那些要求，以及对所有相关研究设计的临床试验注册要求。具体而言，期刊应考虑明确规定临床试验、观察性研究和系统评价等的强制性或推荐性指南。未来的工作应侧重于评估这些政策的实施情况，并找出阻碍其采用的障碍。
