This public workshop provided a venue for stakeholders to discuss the current state of transparency in reporting pre-clinical biomedical research (e.g., disclosure of the availability and location of data, materials, analysis, and methodology) and explore the possibility of improving the harmonization of guidelines across journals and funding agencies so that biomedical researchers propose and report data in a consistent manner.
The workshop was hosted by the Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation, the Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders, the National Cancer Policy Forum, and the Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health; and co-sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, Cell Press, The Lancet, and Nature Research.
The public workshop featured opportunities for stakeholders to:
- Highlight current efforts by researchers, institutions, funders, and journals to increase transparency in proposing and reporting pre-clinical biomedical research;
- Discuss journal and funder assessments of researchers’ adherence to reporting guidelines, including a discussion of the effectiveness of checklists;
- Consider lessons learned from field-specific best practices for increased transparency in reporting rigor elements (i.e., research design, methodology, analysis, interpretation and reporting of results) that are generalizable across biomedical research domains;
- Discuss opportunities for improving the consistency of reporting guidelines and requirements for rigor and transparency by journals, funders, and institutions across the biomedical research lifecycle; and
- Consider approaches to compare reporting of rigor elements proposed in grant applications to those included in publications.
The agenda included a panel discussion on facilitating the development of consistent guidelines (e.g. a common set of minimal reporting standards) that could be applied across journals and funders to increase transparency in proposing and reporting biomedical research.
Below are materials for the workshop, including an agenda, briefing book, and presentations. View archived webcast footage of the presentations and discussions here.
For additional information on the workshop, including the planning committee and sponsors, please visit our project page.
Resources