STROBE and STREGA: instruments for improving transparency and quality of reporting scientific results

Excerpt

Imagine a medical science historian some 40 years from now, around 2050, trying to assess what went on about 40–50 years ago. Which were the ruling paradigms in medical science? Which methods were used to achieve new knowledge? Our historian will probably be looking for important research issues or unsettled problems as examples and thereby stumble upon the era of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or the anti-oxidant theory. She might raise her eyebrows and ask the pertinent question: “How could they start intervening with hormones mainly based on biological theories and observational studies? And with regard to the anti-oxidants, how could one allow over the counter sales and advertising for food supplements where no substantial beneficial effect had been demonstrated?” …