Abstract
It is the desire of this new and revised STRICTA, in conjunction with the main CONSORT Statement, to raise the quality of reporting clinical trials of acupuncture. The checklists are especially geared to be a mirror-like reflection of the important areas of STRICTA to help authors produce more scientific depth. I believe that you will be able to “grab and go” with the STRICTA requirements and integrate them with the Medical Acupuncture's Instructions for Authors. Your efforts should seamlessly and coherently come together.
The new STRICTA requirements are voluminous. A print-out of this document yielded 21 pages; almost enough to dwarf any article published in Medical Acupuncture. However, all 63 exquisite international references brilliantly support the content of this superlative revision. Worldwide experts who assisted in contributing their recommendations to this effort made it perfectly clear that for acupuncture clinical trials, it is time to get down to business! Executing these reporting standards will clearly demonstrate the power and the presence of acupuncture!
I would like to simplify the steps for authors which should be helpful and make it straightforward to producing an article for Medical Acupuncture. It will also help all authors to plan their clinical trials appropriately as you read the guidelines. It will point you in the right direction.
Medical Acupuncture's Instructions for Authors are available at www.liebertpub.com/acu. I strongly encourage you to carefully read them before preparing your manuscript. Note that the “Conclusions” section in our journal instructions has been deleted to be in compliance with the new STRICTA “Discussion” recommendations.
Tables 1 and 2 below are reproduced from the new STRICTA guidelines, and should be closely followed when preparing your manuscripts:
TITLE (Example) John K. Jones, MD (Use main credential only) ABSTRACT: (1ab Table 2) KEY WORDS INTRODUCTION: (Statement of hypothesis of the research should be incorporated here) TABLE 2,2ab METHODOLOGY: Refer also to the new STRICTA checklist (Table 1)
The italicized 1-6 below is information that must appear in the METHODOLOGY.
Acupuncture rationale 1abc as appropriate
Details of needling 2(a) to 2(g)
Treatment regimen 3ab
Other components of treatment 4ab
Practitioner Background 5
Control or Comparator interventions 6ab
Follow Table 2 for all other elements:
TRIAL DESIGN 3ab PARTICIPANTS 4ab INTERVENTIONS 5 OUTCOMES 6ab SAMPLE SIZE 7ab
6. RANDOMIZATION
Sequence generation 8ab
Allocation Concealment 9
Implementation 10
Blinding 11ab
Statistical methods 12ab
7. RESULTS
Participant flow 13ab
Implementation
Recruitment 14ab
Baseline data 15
Numbers analyzed 16
Outcomes and Estimations 17ab
Ancillary Analyses 18
Harms 19
8. DISCUSSION
Limitations 20
Generalizability 21
Interpretation 22
9. OTHER INFORMATION
Registration 23
Protocol 24
Funding 25
Many of the articles in our journal are singular case reports. In achieving publications of these articles it is obvious that some components of STRICTA may not be applicable. Nevertheless we need to strive and maintain the quality of this journal. I urge you to plan and prepare your manuscripts carefully. Also remember that while a single case is interesting, it is not conclusive, and is subjected to much scrutiny, especially by myself as Editor-in-Chief, and the peer reviewers.