Ten simple rules for developing a reporting appraisal tool
- 1Collaboration for Open Science and Synthesis in Ecology and Evolution (COSSEE), Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Abstract
In an ideal world, authors would report clearly and transparently exactly what they conducted. In reality, reporting is often incomplete, and key elements of research conduct are frequently missing from manuscripts. Reporting guidelines were developed to address this problem by helping authors identify what should be reported. These guidelines have been highly valuable for authors, but they are not well suited for appraising reporting during peer review or editorial assessment despite common use. This is because authors and appraisers have different needs: authors require a comprehensive guide for writing, whereas appraisers need a tool that is concise, repeatable, and easy to use. We therefore propose the development of reporting appraisal tools: operationalised tools designed specifically to assess whether a paper has reported the minimum essential elements of a study. To support their development, we present 10 simple rules.
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BibTeX
@article{morrison2026simple,
title = {{Ten simple rules for developing a reporting appraisal tool}},
author = {Kyle Morrison and Malgorzata Lagisz},
journal = {PLOS Computational Biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014841},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014841},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ten simple rules for developing a reporting appraisal tool
AU - Kyle Morrison
AU - Malgorzata Lagisz
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - PLOS Computational Biology
DO - 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014841
UR - https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014841
AB - In an ideal world, authors would report clearly and transparently exactly what they conducted. In reality, reporting is often incomplete, and key elements of research conduct are frequently missing from manuscripts. Reporting guidelines were developed to address this problem by helping authors identify what should be reported. These guidelines have been highly valuable for authors, but they are not well suited for appraising reporting during peer review or editorial assessment despite common use. This is because authors and appraisers have different needs: authors require a comprehensive guide for writing, whereas appraisers need a tool that is concise, repeatable, and easy to use. We therefore propose the development of reporting appraisal tools: operationalised tools designed specifically to assess whether a paper has reported the minimum essential elements of a study. To support their development, we present 10 simple rules.
SN - 1553-7358
SN - 1553-734X
ER -