Development of START-EDI guidelines for reporting equality, diversity and inclusion in research: a study protocol
Introduction Acknowledging equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in research is not only a moral imperative but also an important step in avoiding bias and ensuring generalisability of results. This protocol describes the development of STAndards for ReporTing EDI (START-EDI) in research, which wi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2025-07-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7/e095778.full |
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| author | Michael G Fadel Rebecca Barnes Amanda J Cross Sally Hopewell George B Hanna Linda D Sharples Peter Buckle Brian D Nicholson Patrick MM Bossuyt Julie Hepburn Vivian Welch Jérémie F Cohen Tanvi Rai Piers R Boshier Anthony Muchai Manyara Hannah Kettley-Linsell Christopher Newby Darshali A Vyas Philip Edgar-Jones |
| author_facet | Michael G Fadel Rebecca Barnes Amanda J Cross Sally Hopewell George B Hanna Linda D Sharples Peter Buckle Brian D Nicholson Patrick MM Bossuyt Julie Hepburn Vivian Welch Jérémie F Cohen Tanvi Rai Piers R Boshier Anthony Muchai Manyara Hannah Kettley-Linsell Christopher Newby Darshali A Vyas Philip Edgar-Jones |
| author_sort | Michael G Fadel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction Acknowledging equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in research is not only a moral imperative but also an important step in avoiding bias and ensuring generalisability of results. This protocol describes the development of STAndards for ReporTing EDI (START-EDI) in research, which will provide a set of minimum standards to help researchers improve their consistency, completeness and transparency in EDI reporting. We anticipate that these guidelines will benefit authors, reviewers, editors, funding organisations, healthcare providers, patients and the public.Methods and analysis To create START-EDI reporting guidelines, the following five stages are proposed: (i) establish a diverse, multidisciplinary Steering Committee that will lead and coordinate guideline development; (ii) a systematic review to identify the essential principles and methodological approaches for EDI to generate preliminary checklist items; (iii) conduct an international Delphi process to reach a consensus on the checklist items; (iv) finalise the reporting guidelines and create a separate explanation and elaboration document; and (v) broad dissemination and implementation of START-EDI guidelines. We will work with patient and public involvement representatives and under-served groups in research throughout the project stages.Ethics and dissemination The study has received ethical approval from the Imperial College London Research Ethics Committee (study ID: 7592283). The reporting guidelines will be published in open access peer-reviewed publications and presented in international conferences, and disseminated through community networks and forums.Trial registration number The project is pre-registered within the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/8udbq/) and the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research Network. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a0fb6fff5c3c4804af557bfa3c13d1bb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-a0fb6fff5c3c4804af557bfa3c13d1bb2025-08-20T03:27:58ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552025-07-0115710.1136/bmjopen-2024-095778Development of START-EDI guidelines for reporting equality, diversity and inclusion in research: a study protocolMichael G Fadel0Rebecca Barnes1Amanda J Cross2Sally Hopewell3George B Hanna4Linda D Sharples5Peter Buckle6Brian D Nicholson7Patrick MM Bossuyt8Julie Hepburn9Vivian Welch10Jérémie F Cohen11Tanvi Rai12Piers R Boshier13Anthony Muchai Manyara14Hannah Kettley-Linsell15Christopher Newby16Darshali A Vyas17Philip Edgar-Jones18Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UKDepartment of Population Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UKDepartment of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UKOxford Clinical Trials Research Unit / Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKDepartment of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UKDepartment of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UKDepartment of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UKNuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKDepartment of Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsPublic Involvement Community, Health and Care Research Wales Support Centre, Cardiff, UKMethods Centre, Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaCentre of Research in Epidemiology and Statistics (CRESS), INSERM, OPPaLE Research Team, Université Paris Cité, Paris, FranceNuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKDepartment of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UKGlobal Health and Ageing Research Unit, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKDepartment of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UKNIHR Research Support Service Hub, University of Leicester and Partners, Leicester, UKDepartment of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USASky Arts and Entertainment, London, UKIntroduction Acknowledging equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in research is not only a moral imperative but also an important step in avoiding bias and ensuring generalisability of results. This protocol describes the development of STAndards for ReporTing EDI (START-EDI) in research, which will provide a set of minimum standards to help researchers improve their consistency, completeness and transparency in EDI reporting. We anticipate that these guidelines will benefit authors, reviewers, editors, funding organisations, healthcare providers, patients and the public.Methods and analysis To create START-EDI reporting guidelines, the following five stages are proposed: (i) establish a diverse, multidisciplinary Steering Committee that will lead and coordinate guideline development; (ii) a systematic review to identify the essential principles and methodological approaches for EDI to generate preliminary checklist items; (iii) conduct an international Delphi process to reach a consensus on the checklist items; (iv) finalise the reporting guidelines and create a separate explanation and elaboration document; and (v) broad dissemination and implementation of START-EDI guidelines. We will work with patient and public involvement representatives and under-served groups in research throughout the project stages.Ethics and dissemination The study has received ethical approval from the Imperial College London Research Ethics Committee (study ID: 7592283). The reporting guidelines will be published in open access peer-reviewed publications and presented in international conferences, and disseminated through community networks and forums.Trial registration number The project is pre-registered within the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/8udbq/) and the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research Network.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7/e095778.full |
| spellingShingle | Michael G Fadel Rebecca Barnes Amanda J Cross Sally Hopewell George B Hanna Linda D Sharples Peter Buckle Brian D Nicholson Patrick MM Bossuyt Julie Hepburn Vivian Welch Jérémie F Cohen Tanvi Rai Piers R Boshier Anthony Muchai Manyara Hannah Kettley-Linsell Christopher Newby Darshali A Vyas Philip Edgar-Jones Development of START-EDI guidelines for reporting equality, diversity and inclusion in research: a study protocol BMJ Open |
| title | Development of START-EDI guidelines for reporting equality, diversity and inclusion in research: a study protocol |
| title_full | Development of START-EDI guidelines for reporting equality, diversity and inclusion in research: a study protocol |
| title_fullStr | Development of START-EDI guidelines for reporting equality, diversity and inclusion in research: a study protocol |
| title_full_unstemmed | Development of START-EDI guidelines for reporting equality, diversity and inclusion in research: a study protocol |
| title_short | Development of START-EDI guidelines for reporting equality, diversity and inclusion in research: a study protocol |
| title_sort | development of start edi guidelines for reporting equality diversity and inclusion in research a study protocol |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7/e095778.full |
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