Improving Reporting of Research Articles in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Improving Reporting of Research Articles in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Osama A. Samargandi1

Received: 12 July 2020 / Accepted: 13 July 2020 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature and International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2020

Level of Evidence V This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. Sir, Over the past two decades, there has been extensive work to improve the quality of reporting of individual manuscripts in the field of plastic surgery. Several authors have systematically assessed the quality of reporting of each study design in our field to put the spotlight on this issue that is in need of improvement [1–6]. This issue is commonly addressed with the use of previously tested and published reporting guidelines. The latter provide standardized guidance on the important information needed in a research paper to help reviewers and journal readers to adequately evaluate the study design and validity of the results [2, 7–10]. Unfortunately, the quality of reporting in

the majority of plastic surgery research was suboptimal [1–6]. The suggested solution in all of these studies is to increase the awareness of the presence and importance of these reporting guidelines [1–6]. In a quick review of the highest impact factors aesthetic and plastic surgery journals instructions to authors sheet, only few journals specifically ask their authors to adhere to the common reporting guidelines before submission. Therefore, the main goal of this letter is to promote the use of these reporting guidelines among researchers, editors and reviewers. The most common reporting guidelines for different study designs are summarized in Table 1. For further information and details, please check the Equatornetwork website (https://www.equator-network.org). Ultimately, the hope is to improve the quality of research reporting in our field not only by increasing authors adherence but also by direct instructions from editors and reviewers.

& Osama A. Samargandi [email protected] 1

Division of Plastic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Room 4447, Halifax Infirmary, 4th Floor, Plastic Surgery, 1796 Summer Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3A7, Canada

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Aesth Plast Surg Table 1 Summary of the most common reporting guidelines Study design

Suggested reporting guideline

Special remarks

Randomized controlled trials (RCT)

CONSORT [9]

Appropriate reporting of statistical results (confidence interval and power calculation) [11] Appropriate reporting of adverse events. [12] Appropriate reporting and interpretation of the type of RCT (superiority, equivalence and non-inferiority)

Observational studies

STROBE [7]

Appropriate reporting of limitation of the study design

Case series

Coroneos et al. [10]

Appropriate reporting of limitation of the study design

Systematic reviews