ArticleTrials2023
Incomplete reporting of complex interventions: a call to action for journal editors to review their submission guidelines.
Article in Trials, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Understanding the Components of Eating Behaviour-Focused Weight Management Interventions Adjunct to Metabolic Bariatric Surgery: Systematic Review of Published Literature.Current obesity reports · 2025Pooled it
- Features of effective staff training programmes within school-based interventions targeting student activity behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Pooled it
- Evaluating Traditional Bonesetting Interventions: A Methodological Review and Framework for Clinical Research.Cureus · 2026Review
- Transparency in positive airway pressure therapy trials: an evaluation of reporting quality.Journal of comparative effectiveness research · 2026Article
- A Systematic Review of the Philippine Plants' Antibacterial Properties againstActa medica Philippina · 2026Article
- Anti-Obesity Medication in the Management of Children and Adolescents With Obesity: Recent Developments and Research Gaps.Clinical endocrinology · 2025Review
- Improving reporting standards in quantitative educational intervention research: introducing the CLOSER and CIDER checklists.Journal of new approaches in educational research · 2025Article
- Strategies to improve implementation of cascade testing in hereditary cancer syndromes: a systematic review.NPJ genomic medicine · 2024Article
- Are the Risk of Generalizability Biases Generalizable? A Meta-Epidemiological Study.Research square · 2024Article
- Reporting characteristics of nonsurgical periodontal therapy trials registered in ClinicalTrials.gov: an observational study.Journal of comparative effectiveness research · 2023Observational
- Completeness of intervention description in invasive cardiology trials: an observational study ofFrontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Reporting of intervention research has been inadequate for many years. The development and promotion of freely available checklists aims to address this problem by providing researchers with a list of items that require reporting to enable study interpretation and replication. In this commentary, we present evidence from a recent systematic review of 51 randomised controlled trials published 2015-2020 that inadequate intervention reporting remains a widespread issue and that checklists are not being used to describe all intervention components. In 2022, we assessed the submission guidelines of 33 journals that published articles included in our review and found that just one at the time encouraged the use of reporting checklists for all intervention components. To drive progress, we contacted the editors of the other 32 journals and requested that they update their submission guidelines in response. We conclude by highlighting the waste associated with current practices and encourage journals from all fields to urgently review their submission guidelines. Only through collective action can we build an evidence base that is fit for purpose.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.