Requirements for Study Registration and Adherence to Reporting Guidelines in Surgery Journals: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Reporting guidelines and study registration can minimize bias and improve the reporting quality of biomedical research, but may not be fully utilized. The objective of this study was to investigate the policies of surgery journals as for reporting guidelines and study registration and explore associated journal characteristic variables. Methods Study samples were obtained from the Expanded Science Citation Index of the 2018 Journal Citation Reports (surgery category). The online guides for authors were browsed to identify which journals endorsed reporting guidelines and study registration. The predictors related to the endorsement were explored by using Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis, respectively. Results One hundred and eighty-eight surgery journals were included in our study. One hundred and sixty-three journals (86.7%) endorsed reporting guidelines and 103 journals (54.8%) endorsed study registration. About reporting guidelines, ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) recommendations were the most frequently endorsed (n = 155, 82.4%) by journals, followed by CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement (n = 94, 50.0%). About study registration, randomized controlled trial registration was endorsed by 101 (53.7%) journals, whereas the systematic review registration was endorsed by only 9 journals (4.8%). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that not North America, higher JCR (Journal Citation Reports) rank journals were more likely to endorse reporting guidelines and study registration. Conclusions Surgery journals frequently use reporting guidelines, but nearly half of journals did not require study registration. Implementing these two mechanisms can prevent bias, and their adoption should be strengthened by authors, reviewers and journal editors in surgery.