Choose a guideline for the study design
Start with the design, then check whether a relevant extension applies. A journal's instructions may specify additional requirements. The EQUATOR Network helps researchers find reporting guidance across health research.
| Your study | Starting point |
|---|---|
| Randomised trial | CONSORT |
| Cohort, case-control or cross-sectional study | STROBE |
| Systematic review | PRISMA |
These are starting points, not a complete catalogue. Check the current version and any extension that matches your methods. Reporting a protocol is a different task from reporting completed results.
Use the guidance while writing
CONSORT provides guidance for reporting randomised trials; the joint SPIRIT–CONSORT website also provides guidance for trial protocols. Use the appropriate material to distinguish what was planned from the results of a completed trial. SPIRIT–CONSORT.
STROBE addresses reporting in observational epidemiology. Its checklist helps authors describe design, participants, variables, analysis and findings. It is not a substitute for designing a sound study or a tool for giving a study a quality score. STROBE.
PRISMA 2020 includes a checklist, expanded guidance and flow-diagram templates for systematic reviews. Use the explanation and elaboration alongside the checklist when an item needs interpretation. PRISMA 2020.
Make nutrition methods understandable
For a nutrition paper, give readers enough detail to understand how diet was assessed. Name the instrument, describe the period it covers and explain how the measurements were used in the analysis. A label such as “dietary intake” cannot communicate all of this.
The US National Cancer Institute's Dietary Assessment Primer roadmap provides a route through instruments, measurement error and approaches to diet research. Use it alongside the reporting guideline, especially when describing a dietary measure unfamiliar to your intended audience.
A practical manuscript check
Choose one result from your draft and trace it backwards. Can a reader find the outcome definition, eligible participants, measurement method and analysis that produced it? Then trace the result forwards: does the discussion accurately reflect its uncertainty and limitations?
Keep a working checklist with the location of each requested item. If an item does not apply, explain why. If information is missing, improve the manuscript instead of filling the checklist with page numbers that do not answer the question.
Clear reporting makes appraisal possible; it does not establish that a finding is unbiased or ready to guide practice. For that next task, use reading nutrition research.