From Policy to Practice: The Evidence on Pre‐Registration and Reporting Guidelines in Nursing Journal Publications

ABSTRACT

Significance/Background

Ensuring transparency in research dissemination and confidence in published findings is essential for advancing nursing science. Open science provides a framework for achieving this by promoting practices that make scientific knowledge openly accessible, rigorous, reproducible, and inclusive, thereby strengthening trustworthiness and accountability in scholarly work.

Aims

This study aimed to evaluate the extent to which nursing journals require pre-registration and reporting guidelines, assess adherence to these practices in published research reports and systematic reviews, and explore their relationship with journal impact factors.

Methods

We conducted an observational cross-sectional survey of nursing journals indexed in the Journal Citation Reports database. After applying inclusion criteria, a 25% random sample (n = 35) was selected. Author guidelines were reviewed for pre-registration and reporting guideline requirements. For each journal, the first original research article and first systematic review from the most recent issue were examined for evidence of adherence.

Results

Among sampled journals, 54% recommended or required pre-registration for original research and 14% for systematic reviews. Reporting guidelines were recommended or required by 71% of journals for original research and 74% for systematic reviews. In sampled articles, pre-registration occurred in 8.6% of original research papers and 35.7% of systematic reviews, while reporting guideline use was documented in 20% of original research and 64.3% of systematic reviews. Journal impact factors were slightly higher among journals that recommended or required these practices, but differences were not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Pre-registration remains underutilized in nursing research despite journal recommendations. Reporting guidelines are more commonly used, especially in systematic reviews.

Linking Evidence to Action

Improving research integrity requires collaboration among all stakeholders beyond journal policy enforcement. Key strategies include training researchers, screening submissions for pre-registration and reporting guidelines, involving peer reviewers in compliance checks, and leveraging librarians for comprehensive searches.