Publishing Health IT Evaluation Studies.

ABSTRACT

Progress in science is based on evidence from well-designed studies. However, publication quality of health IT evaluation studies is often low, making exploitation of published evidence within systematic reviews and meta-analysis a challenging task. Consequently, reporting guidelines have been published and recommended to be used. After a short overview of publication guidelines relevant for health IT evaluation studies (such as CONSORT and PRISMA), the STARE-HI guidelines for publishing health IT evaluation studies are presented. Health IT evaluation publications should take into account published guidelines, to improve the quality of published evidence. Publication guidelines, in line with addressing publication bias and low study quality, help strengthening the evidence available in the public domain to enable effective evidence-based health informatics.