ࡱ> RTQq`;bjbjqPqP 8H::;4444LlE!  $1"h$B ppp  @@@p: @p @@@ pk4R@<!0E!@%%@%@HVN@Bj .E!ppppd44 Editors impact on improving the accuracy of references: randomised comparison of standard practice, brief reminder or educational intervention Kristina Fister, MD1,2 Ana Marusic, MD, PhD3 Andrew Hutchings, MSc4 Josipa Kern, PhD1 Matko Marusic, MD, PhD3 1 Andrija Stampar School of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia 2 BMJ, London, UK 3 Croatian Medical Journal, Zagreb University School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia 4 Health Services Research Unit, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK Corresponding author: Kristina Fister Roger Robinson editorial registrar BMJ Editorial BMA House Tavistock Square London WC1H 9JR, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7383 6307 Fax: +44 (0)20 7383 6418 E-mail: kfister@bmj.com Editors impact on improving the accuracy of references: randomised comparison of standard practice, brief reminder or educational intervention Word count: 308 excluding title, subtitles and table Objective: To investigate whether editors intervention prompts authors to reduce the number of errors in references of manuscripts they submit for publication. Design: We randomly allocated 75 consecutive manuscripts accepted for publication in a general medical journal to one of three interventions. The Editor-in-chief returned manuscripts to the authors for final changes with a covering letter corresponding to the intervention group: standard practice (prompting authors to acknowledge required changes, with no specific mention of the references section), brief reminder (standard practice plus a sentence prompting authors to pay special attention to the accuracy of references) or educational intervention (standard practice plus a paragraph highlighting the importance of the accuracy of references and a copy of reference citation formats recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors). Blinded to the intervention, errors were classified as technical (e.g. punctuation) or substantive (e.g. misspelled authors last name) compared with the Manuscript Editor's gold standard. Differences in the accuracy and rate of errors in revised manuscripts between standard practice and the other interventions were examined using logistic and Poisson regression. We adjusted for ICMJE reference format and errors in the original manuscript. The manuscripts were the unit of analysis and included as random effects. Results: We considered 2035 pairs of references after excluding 12 references deleted from original manuscripts and 79 added to revised manuscripts. The percentage of completely accurate references and references without technical and substantive errors in the original manuscripts were 14.9%, 30.1% and 42.7% respectively. Small but statistically significant improvements in completely accurate and technically correct references were observed in the educational intervention group compared with standard practice (table). These improvements were also better than in the brief reminder group (p=0.02 and p<0.01 respectively). No statistically significant differences were observed for improvement in substantive errors. Conclusion: Editors educational intervention can produce small improvements in the accuracy of references as supplied by authors. Standard practice (25 manuscripts, n=720)Brief reminder (25 manuscripts, n=613)Educational intervention (25 manuscripts, n=702)BeforeAfterBeforeAfterBeforeAfterNumber (%) of completely accurate references109 (15.1)105 (14.6)94 (15.3)95 (15.5)100 (14.2)139 (19.8)Number (%) of references with no technical errors257 (35.7)251 (34.9)161 (26.3)162 (26.4)195 (27.8)240 (34.2)Number (%) of references with no substantive errors274 (38.1)283 (39.3)286 (46.7)302 (49.3)308 (43.9)337 (48.0)Total number (number per reference) of substantive errors743 (1.03)715 (0.99)484 (0.79)445 (0.73)643 (0.92)583 (0.83)Improvement in accuracy of references: odds ratio (95% confidence interval; p-value) Completely accurate references reference3.18 (0.37-27.4; p=0.29)19.4 (2.65-142; p<0.01)References without technical error reference1.09 (0.28-4.26; p=0.90)4.31 (1.30-14.4; p=0.02)References without substantive errorreference2.75 (0.96-7.91; p=0.06)3.34 (0.72-15.4; p=0.12)Improvement in rate of errors: rate ratio (95% confidence interval; p-value) Substantive errors per referencereference0.86 (0.71-1.03; p=0.09)0.85 (0.71-1.01; p=0.06) !RZej ǽǽǷ|oao[UOU hE`CJ h0CJ hqCJh6&^hdCJH*mHsHh6&^hdCJmHsHh6&^hqCJmHsHh6&^h5ICJH*mHsHh6&^h5ICJmHsHh hg%CJh0hg%CJH* hg%CJh hqCJH*h hqCJh hEp5CJ hi5CJh hYG5CJh hHi5CJh hq5CJ ; M  C Q [ l \ ] $a$gdg%$a$gd\;     0 1 6 \ ] i k l m v | Ǿڑڇ}voe[QGQe[}h h \6CJh h 6CJh h1G6CJh hzs6CJ h06CJ h: 86CJh hxh 6CJh hEp5CJh hYG5CJh6&^hqCJh6&^hCJmHsHh6&^h5ICJmHsHh h5ICJh hCJh hq5CJh h5CJh h5I5CJh hqCJh h0CJ 5 6 > 67@  $$% &P#$/Ifa$gdfl'$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdfl'$a$gd[E$a$gd"$a$gd\  4 5 6 = > A S     ۿ乳}tntet\h hSMCJh hECJ h$^CJh hltCJ hCJh hYGCJ hZCJh h}(CJh hiCJh hlrwCJ hX`CJ hoCJ hwCJh hd5CJ hCJ h1}CJ h5CJh h1}CJh h5CJh hCJh hxh CJ!  $ F N V a v (GHbjz%-./0NTUVXeөӠӗ܎vpgaa h;MCJh h;MCJ hZCJh hXz@CJ h$^CJh hF%CJh h7fCJh hd"CJh hlrwCJh hEpCJ h +RCJh hECJh h|CJh hCJh hYGCJh h>m}CJh h: CJh hNCJh h,CJ%e5678@PRS\gwy 5QVk{9AC`s  螘ܒ܌܌ h{q}CJ hOQ CJ h8tCJ h0CJ h)CJ h\CJ hCJ hm1CJh hd5CJh hN5CJh hCJh h CJ h:ACJ hZCJh hF%CJ hoCJh h/`CJ2  =KRZuyluwݿzrzzrhCJaJh%CJaJhEQ5CJaJh5CJaJh%5CJaJh h%5CJaJh h%CJaJh hCJaJh hEpCJh hVm#CJ h: 8CJ hEQCJh h&|$CJh h[E5CJ h>(Z5CJh h)CJ,#kd$$Ifl4\ _#&    6P% 0S'44 lap($$% &P#$/Ifa$gdfl'$+18>?lw~~~~~$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdfl$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdflFf&$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdfl$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdfl  @COTUVY[_adfjlpquwz| hulCJaJhCJaJh hulCJaJh hCJaJhCJaJh h%CJaJN !"Valw$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdlFfi$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdflFf$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdfl l$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdullFf $$% &P#$/Ifa$gdfl$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdflFf %;=M`ilm')*NOY]_hpqrhCsh;_6CJaJhCshCs6CJaJh^PCJaJh;_CJaJhulCJaJh^P6CJaJhCs6CJaJhE6CJaJh;_hgf6CJaJh;_hul6CJaJh hulCJaJ9lmmNNN$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdull$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdullskd $$Ifl&S' 6P% 0S'44 lap D%$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdullkd $$Ifl\ _#&    6P% 0S'44 lap()*%kd~$$Ifl\ _#&    6P% 0S'44 lap($$% &P#$/Ifa$gdull*OYr$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdull$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdullD%$$% &P#$/Ifa$gd;_lkd$$Ifl\ _#&    6P% 0S'44 lap(.6789;ԹԹɱh%CJaJh^PCJaJhulCJaJh hulCJaJhCsCJaJh h;_CJaJhCsh;_6CJaJhCshCs6CJaJ8mNNN$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdull$$% &P#$/Ifa$gdullskd|$$Ifl&S' 6P% 0S'44 lap 89:;D<<$a$gd\kd$$Ifl\ _#&    6P% 0S'44 lap(6&P 1h:phq. 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