Advertisement
Table of Contents

August 2014

Cover

Observational Studies: Getting Clear about Transparency
Issue Image

In this month's Editorial, the PLOS Medicine editors announce new guidelines for researchers publishing observational research in the journal.

In the absence of evidence from clinical trials, observational studies (including case-control, cohort and cross-sectional studies) may provide the best evidence available to guide clinical practice, but unlike clinical trials, observational studies lack consistent community standards for clarity in reporting.

The editors endorse four measures to promote transparency in the analysis and reporting of observational studies: completion of established reporting checklists; commitment to data sharing; clear specification of which analyses the researchers planned and which they actually did; and provision of a prospective analysis plan, if one was used in designing the study.

Image Credit: S. Carter, Flickr

Editorial

Observational Studies: Getting Clear about Transparency

The PLOS Medicine Editors

PLOS Medicine: published August 26, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001711

Essay

Ethics, Economics, and the Use of Primaquine to Reduce Falciparum Malaria Transmission in Asymptomatic Populations

Yoel Lubell, Lisa White, Sheila Varadan, Tom Drake, Shunmay Yeung, Phaik Yeong Cheah, Richard J. Maude, Arjen Dondorp, Nicholas P. J. Day, Nicholas J. White, Michael Parker

PLOS Medicine: published August 19, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001704

Perspectives

Scaling up Rural Sanitation in India

Clarissa Brocklehurst

PLOS Medicine: published August 26, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001710

Related Articles

  1. The Effect of India's Total Sanitation Campaign on Defecation Behaviors and Child Health in Rural Madhya Pradesh: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Staffing of Healthcare Workers and Patient Mortality: Randomized Trials Needed

Meeta Prasad Kerlin

PLOS Medicine: published August 19, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001706

Related Articles

  1. Associations between Stroke Mortality and Weekend Working by Stroke Specialist Physicians and Registered Nurses: Prospective Multicentre Cohort Study

Heart Failure: Gaps in Knowledge and Failures in Treatment

Druin Burch

PLOS Medicine: published August 12, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001702

Related Articles

  1. Heart Failure Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Health in Action

From Intense Rejection to Advocacy: How Muslim Clerics Were Engaged in a Polio Eradication Initiative in Northern Nigeria

Sani-Gwarzo Nasir, Gambo Aliyu, Inuwa Ya'u, Muktar Gadanya, Muktar Mohammad, Mahmud Zubair, Samer S. El-Kamary

PLOS Medicine: published August 5, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001687

Guidelines and Guidance

Intervention Synthesis: A Missing Link between a Systematic Review and Practical Treatment(s)

Paul P. Glasziou, Iain Chalmers, Sally Green, Susan Michie

PLOS Medicine: published August 12, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001690

Research Articles

The Effect of India's Total Sanitation Campaign on Defecation Behaviors and Child Health in Rural Madhya Pradesh: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Sumeet R. Patil, Benjamin F. Arnold, Alicia L. Salvatore, Bertha Briceno, Sandipan Ganguly, John M. Colford Jr, Paul J. Gertler

PLOS Medicine: published August 26, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001709

Related Articles

  1. Scaling up Rural Sanitation in India

Associations between Stroke Mortality and Weekend Working by Stroke Specialist Physicians and Registered Nurses: Prospective Multicentre Cohort Study

Benjamin D. Bray, Salma Ayis, James Campbell, Geoffrey C. Cloud, Martin James, Alex Hoffman, Pippa J. Tyrrell, Charles D. A. Wolfe, Anthony G. Rudd

PLOS Medicine: published August 19, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001705

Related Articles

  1. Staffing of Healthcare Workers and Patient Mortality: Randomized Trials Needed

Stress Hyperglycaemia in Hospitalised Patients and Their 3-Year Risk of Diabetes: A Scottish Retrospective Cohort Study

David A. McAllister, Katherine A. Hughes, Nazir Lone, Nicholas L. Mills, Naveed Sattar, John McKnight, Sarah H. Wild

PLOS Medicine: published August 19, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001708

Heart Failure Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Thomas Callender, Mark Woodward, Gregory Roth, Farshad Farzadfar, Jean-Christophe Lemarie, Stéphanie Gicquel, John Atherton, Shadi Rahimzadeh, Mehdi Ghaziani, Maaz Shaikh, Derrick Bennett, Anushka Patel, Carolyn S. P. Lam, Karen Sliwa, Antonio Barretto, Bambang Budi Siswanto, Alejandro Diaz, Daniel Herpin, Henry Krum, Thomas Eliasz, Anna Forbes, Alastair Kiszely, Rajit Khosla, Tatjana Petrinic, Devarsetty Praveen, Roohi Shrivastava, Du Xin, Stephen MacMahon, John McMurray, Kazem Rahimi

PLOS Medicine: published August 12, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001699

Related Articles

  1. Heart Failure: Gaps in Knowledge and Failures in Treatment

Hand Sanitiser Provision for Reducing Illness Absences in Primary School Children: A Cluster Randomised Trial

Patricia Priest, Joanne E. McKenzie, Rick Audas, Marion Poore, Cheryl Brunton, Lesley Reeves

PLOS Medicine: published August 12, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001700

Women's Access and Provider Practices for the Case Management of Malaria during Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Jenny Hill, Lauren D'Mello-Guyett, Jenna Hoyt, Anna M. van Eijk, Feiko O. ter Kuile, Jayne Webster

PLOS Medicine: published August 5, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001688

Protective Efficacy and Safety of Three Antimalarial Regimens for the Prevention of Malaria in Young Ugandan Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Victor Bigira, James Kapisi, Tamara D. Clark, Stephen Kinara, Florence Mwangwa, Mary K. Muhindo, Beth Osterbauer, Francesca T. Aweeka, Liusheng Huang, Jane Achan, Diane V. Havlir, Philip J. Rosenthal, Moses R. Kamya, Grant Dorsey

PLOS Medicine: published August 5, 2014 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001689