Preferred Reporting Items for study Designs in Endodontology (PRIDE): Guiding authors to produce high-quality manuscripts

Implementing evidence-based dentistry involves a systematic process that includes collecting and analyzing evidence to address a clinical question. However, the inadequacy of many manuscripts and the incomplete and often misleading information they provide when published in healthcare journals are of major concern. The literature confirms that reporting guidelines improve the overall completeness and transparency of manuscripts in the field of oral health research. To improve the overall quality and clinical translation of studies in Endodontology, a new suite of guidelines under the umbrella of the Preferred Reporting Items for study Designs in Endodontology (PRIDE) project has been developed. Under the PRIDE project, five reporting guidelines focusing on specific study designs within the specialty either have or are in the process of being developed: (Case reports: Preferred Reporting Items for Case reports in Endodontics (PRICE); Randomized clinical trials: Preferred Reporting Items for RAndomized Trials in Endodontics (PRIRATE); Laboratory studies: Preferred Reporting Items for Laboratory studies in Endodontology (PRILE); Animal studies: Preferred Reporting Items for Animal Studies in Endodontology (PRIASE) and Observational studies: Preferred Reporting items for OBservational studies in Endodontics (PROBE). For each guideline, the project leaders (VN, PD) formed a steering committee made up of experts from across the globe. Each steering committee developed an initial draft checklist containing a list of proposed items related to the specific study design to fit the specialty of Endodontology. In addition, a flowchart to graphically illustrate the process involved in the development of a manuscript was created to accompany each individual guideline. Each steering committee then formed a Delphi panel that included approximately 30 experts from across the globe who commented individually and anonymously upon the items to be included in each checklist and flowchart until a consensus was achieved. The draft checklists and flowcharts were then discussed during face-to-face or online meetings of approximately 20 experts to further debate and refine each guideline, which were then piloted by several authors while writing a manuscript. Eventually, each guideline (checklist and flowchart) will be published along with supporting material as well as being freely accessible on the PRIDE website (www.pride-endodonticguidelines.org). The PRIDE guidelines will help authors produce high-quality manuscripts in the discipline of Endodontology.