Impact of SPIRIT and CONSORT

The main impact of SPIRIT and CONSORT guidelines is their endorsement by journals, which has improved clinical trial reporting. This endorsement informs prospective authors of the degree of transparency and completeness journals expect from authors in their trial protocols and reports of completed trials. In 2012, a Cochrane review of 50 evaluations of 16,604 trials assessed the effect of journals’ endorsement of CONSORT on the reporting of trials they publish. 25 of 27 CONSORT-related checklist items measured were more completely reported when a trial was published in an endorsing journal than when trials were published in non-endorsing journals . 

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CONSORT has been heavily cited; is listed among the top health research milestones of the twentieth century, according to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute; and is among the top 1% of all research articles by article-level metrics, as tracked by Scopus. CONSORT 2010 has been translated into 13 languages, and SPIRIT 2013 has been translated into 7 languages. CONSORT and SPIRIT have received global endorsement by prominent editorial organizations, including the World Association of Medical Editors, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editorial and the Council of Science Editors, as well as by organizations such as the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network and the pharmaceutical industry.