Criteria for approving new PRISMA extensions

In determining whether to approve a proposed extension to the core PRISMA statement, currently PRISMA 2020, the PRISMA Executive* will assess the following criteria.

Considerations:

  • Whether there is a need for the extension (e.g., the proposed extension will address a prevalent review type, or an emerging review type that is likely to become prevalent).

  • Whether the scope of the proposed extension is appropriate (e.g., focuses on a specific design rather than a cross-cutting issue) and is unique (e.g., with minimal overlap with an existing extension).

  • Whether the proposed extension might be more suited to a worked examples / implementation paper, in which the reporting recommendations are not changed, but additional explanation is provided (e.g., applying PRISMA 2020 to systematic reviews in sport and medicine, musculoskeletal rehabilitation and sports science fields [Ardern et al.]).

  • Whether there is funding to support development of the reporting guideline (e.g., salary support for the developers, funding for any in-person meetings).

  • Whether the team will develop guidance for protocols concurrently with the extension for reporting the review. Concurrent development of guidance for reporting protocols and the review is strongly encouraged.

Requirements:

  • The justification for an extension is established. This is likely to include a preliminary indication of what items / elements are currently missing from PRISMA 2020 (and its current extensions), and an assessment of reporting quality of items potentially relevant for the proposed extension.

  • The methods used to develop the guideline adhere to existing guidance for reporting guideline developers (see Moher et al, EQUATOR Network guidance). There is a commitment to publishing a protocol outlining the methods (e.g., in a journal, on a preprint server such as the Open Science Framework).

  • The core team should have members who have had previous experience developing reporting guidelines (or other research projects using similar methodology) and members who have content expertise. We recommend geographic and demographic diversity, and we encourage patient and public involvement.

  • The team agrees to include a member from the PRISMA Executive in their core team. This will be for the purpose of creating a link between the core team and the Executive and to advise regarding process(es) where needed.

  • The team agrees to submit the extension to the PRISMA Executive for review and to withhold submission of the guideline papers until approval has been received from the Executive. The purpose of the Executive review is to confirm there are no issues with scope of the extension, important inconsistencies with the core PRISMA wording, or inappropriate inclusion of conduct guidance.

  • The team agree to collaborate with the PRISMATIC team** throughout the development process to integrate the new extension with the unified PRISMA statement (a statement that includes reporting items and elements from PRISMA 2020 and the suite of extensions).

  • At least one member (ideally more) of the core team agrees to attend and participate in the annual PRISMA Symposium. This virtual event aims to provide information to developers, facilitate discussion across extension teams, develop closer working relationships and work towards greater harmonisation across the extensions.

  • The team agrees to publish the extension under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license and for the article to be open access (i.e., not behind a paywall). The Creative Commons license will allow for the extensions to be translated, and for the items and elements to be used in subsidiary research.

* Current PRISMA Executive members include:
Joanne McKenzie (co-chair) | Monash University, Australia
Matthew Page (co-chair) | Monash University, Australia
David Moher | Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Canada
Yemisi Takwoingi | University of Birmingham, UK
Evan Mayo-Wilson | University of North Carolina, USA

** PRISMATIC team include:
Matthew Page | Monash University, Australia
Daniel Hamilton | Monash University, Australia
Sue Brennan | Monash University, Australia
David Moher | Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Canada
Joanne McKenzie | Monash University, Australia