The process of continuous journal improvement: new author guidelines for statistical and analytical reporting in VACCINE.

As part of our ongoing process in creating a journal where the ighest caliber science in vaccinology is reported and published, e are announcing the development and implementation of staistical and analytical guidelines for all submissions to VACCINE. eporting of high-quality research to our peers is a mainstay of our rofession as researchers. An important element in such reports s the analytical methodology used, whether statistical, epidemilogical or bioinformatic in nature. Similar to the reporting of the ssay methods used in a study, the analytical methods must be eported with enough detail for the analyses to be reproduced in heir entirety. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has ublished a set of uniform requirements for manuscripts subitted to biomedical journals (http://icmje.org), which includes set of general requirements for statistical reporting. VACCINE lready requires authors to follow the reporting guidelines for uman clinical trials set out in the CONSORT statement. Those or animal clinical trials in the REFLECT statement and those for pidemiological studies in the STROBE statement will be required s well, effective June 1, 2012. Statistical requirements for these ettings are contained within those guidelines. More informaion, including helpful checklists, can be found at the CONSORT ebsite http://www.consort-statement.org/, the REFLECT website ttp://www.reflect-statement.org/home.html, the STROBE webite http://www.strobe-statement.org/, and in the VACCINE guide or authors. However, prior to now, VACCINE has not put forth pecific guidelines or requirements for statistical or general anaytical reporting. As editors, we have noted that the completeness f reporting of statistical methods varies substantially between ubmitted manuscripts, with resultant variations in quality. This oncern is not unique to VACCINE; descriptions of statistical errors n the literature, as well as guidelines to address these, have ppeared periodically since at least 1950 [1–10]. Thus, in an effort o improve the quality, consistency, and rigor of analytical reportng in the journal, a set of analytical reporting guidelines for authors o follow when describing their work is being put into place. We recognize that the analytical methods to be used in a given tudy, from design to analysis to interpretation and inference, epend on the goals of the study itself. These methods should e determined by the investigators together with their statistiian, epidemiologist and/or bioinformaticist prior to performing the tudy. Thus, with a couple of exceptions, the goal here is not to e prescriptive or formulaic in terms of which analytical strateies or methods should be used, but rather to enumerate general oints that must be addressed within any high-quality manuscript