1. How to publish a research paper: reporting guidelines November, 15, 2014
Janna Friedly M.D.
Assistant Professor
University of Washington
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
Associate Director, Comparative Effectiveness, Cost and Outcomes Research Center (CECORC)

2. Disclosures Financial: None
Other: Associate Editor for Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

3. background Completeness of reporting of RCTs is not optimal
Use of mandatory reporting guidelines improves completeness
Fraud in reporting is still an issue
Cochrane Database Syst Rev Nov Consolidated standards of reporting trials (CONSORT) and the completeness of reporting of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in medical journals. Turner et. al.

4. ELEVATING THE QUALITY OF DISABILITY AND REHABILITATION RESEARCH: MANDATORY USE OF THE REPORTING GUIDELINES
Chan L, Heinemann AW, Roberts J. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2014;95(3):415–17.

5. Reporting Guidelines
Reporting guidelines are tools developed to aid accurate and complete reporting of key aspects of research studies.
They are becoming required for submissions by more and more journals (BMJ, Lancet, Archives).
A large group of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation journals (28+) have agreed to require these for submission.

6. Reporting Guidelines Five Main Guidelines
CONSORT – Randomized Controlled Trials (checklist & flow diagram)
STROBE – Observational Studies (checklist)
PRISMA – Systematic Reviews Meta-Analysis (checklist & flow diagram)
STARD – Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (checklist & flow diagram)
CARE – Case Reports (checklist)
Go to for more details.

7. Consort checklist

9. LESS

10. What Do Editors Want: The Rudiments of Style
Short words
Short sentences
Short paragraphs
No jargon, no cliches
No abbreviations
Nouns and verbs > adjectives and adverbs
Active vs. passive writing
The study showed
It was shown

11. Lessons learned
Review the appropriate reporting guideline when designing your research study
Involve a statistician as early as possible
Register all studies with Clinicaltrials.gov accurately, completely and before starting enrollment
Know your target journal and review requirements early

12. Questions? Thank You!