How publishing works in this field
Reporting guidelines are mandatory at most journals and matched to design: CONSORT for randomised trials, PRISMA for systematic reviews, STROBE for observational studies, CARE for case reports, STARD for diagnostic accuracy. Journals require the completed checklist with page numbers, and editors check it.
Prospective trial registration is a condition of publication at ICMJE-following journals — registered before the first participant is enrolled, not afterwards. Retrospective registration is frequently fatal to publication in a good journal, and there is no remedy once enrolment has started.
What slows papers down here
Authorship is governed by the ICMJE criteria, all of which must be met: substantial contribution, drafting or critical revision, final approval, and accountability. Gift and guest authorship are treated as misconduct, and contributions are expected to be stated explicitly.
Ethics documentation is checked rather than assumed — committee name, approval reference, consent procedure, and a Declaration of Helsinki statement. Missing the reference number is one of the most common reasons an otherwise accepted paper stalls.
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Questions we are asked in this field
Match it to the design: CONSORT for randomised trials, STROBE for cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, CARE for case reports, STARD for diagnostic accuracy. The EQUATOR Network lists them all, and journals usually name their requirement.
Limited, and it is better to know now. ICMJE journals require prospective registration and most will not publish a retrospectively registered trial. Register immediately, disclose the timing explicitly, and expect to target journals that do not follow ICMJE.
Anyone meeting all four ICMJE criteria. Funding the study, supplying patients or heading the department does not by itself qualify — those belong in acknowledgements. Journals increasingly ask for a per-author contribution statement.