Changes to the 'Author Guidelines' for Case Reports and Randomized Trials submitted to the International Endodontic Journal.

Abstract

The guidelines were developed using a validated consensus-based methodology based on the Guidance for Developers of Health Research Reporting Guidelines (Moher et al. 2010); the processes followed are described in recently published papers (Nagendrababu et al. 2020a, 2020b). In brief, a steering committee was formed for each guideline and an initial checklist and flow chart deemed essential for drafting case reports and randomized clinical trials specifically related to Endodontics were developed by combining and modifying the existing guidelines (e.g. CARE, CONSORT statement and Clinical and Laboratory Images in Publications (CLIP) principles) but also adding several new items. Each steering committee formed a Delphi group and face-to-face meeting group of individuals from across the globe. Members of the Delphi group were invited to participate in an online Delphi process to achieve consensus on the items to be included in each guideline. The revised checklists and flow charts were then discussed at face-to-face meetings held during the 19th European Society of Endodontology (ESE) biennial congress in Vienna, Austria. Based on feedback received during the face-to-face meetings, each steering committee modified the items in the checklist and flow chart where necessary. The revised guidelines were then piloted by several volunteers who drafted hypothetical manuscripts describing case reports or randomized clinical trials whilst following the PRICE 2020 or PRIRATE 2020 guidelines. An online web-based resource has been developed to maintain an extensive library that provides a collection of reporting guidelines in the field of Endodontology: ‘Preferred Reporting Items for study Designs in Endodontology (PRIDE)’ – www.pride-endodonticguidelines.org. The checklist and flow chart related to each guideline are accessible on the PRIDE website within the relevant PRIDE statements. The various publications relating to all the reporting guidelines are also available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/13652591/homepage/pride-guidelines.htm The International Endodontic Journal has endorsed the PRICE 2020 and PRIRATE 2020 guidelines in the expectation they will improve the quality of manuscripts submitted to the Journal. From now on, the International Endodontic Journal will expect authors to adhere to the PRICE 2020 and PRIRATE 2020 guidelines when submitting case reports and randomized trials, respectively. The authors will also be expected to include a checklist and flow chart in their submission material, similar to PRISMA. Recently, the ‘Author guidelines’ for submission of case reports and randomized trials to the Journal have been modified to align with the new guidelines, see: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/13652591/homepage/forauthors.html Case reports should be written using the Preferred Reporting Items for Case reports in Endodontics (PRICE) 2020 guidelines. A PRICE checklist and flow chart (as a Figure) should also be completed and included in the submission material. The PRICE 2020 checklist and flow chart can be downloaded from: http://pride-endodonticguidelines.org/price/ Randomized clinical trials should be reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for RAndomized Trials in Endodontics (PRIRATE) 2020 guidelines. A PRIRATE checklist and flow chart (as a Figure) should also be completed and included in the submission material. The PRIRATE 2020 checklist and flow chart can be downloaded from: http://pride-endodonticguidelines.org/prirate/ You are most welcome to provide feedback on the PRIDE website as well as the individual guidelines by using the ‘Contact Us’ page of the PRIDE website – http://pride-endodonticguidelines.org/contact/. The International Endodontic Journal looks forward to receiving high-quality case reports and randomized trials in the future.