Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015: elaboration and explanation

Protocols of systematic reviews and meta-analyses allow for planning and documentation of review methods, act as a guard against arbitrary decision making during review conduct, enable readers to assess for the presence of selective reporting against completed reviews, and, when made publicly available, reduce duplication of efforts and potentially prompt collaboration. Evidence documenting the existence of selective reporting and excessive duplication of reviews on the same or similar topics is accumulating and many calls have been made in support of the documentation and public availability of review protocols. Several efforts have emerged in recent years to rectify these problems, including development of…

• KP
  Kaiser Permanente
• BU
  Brown University
• JH
  Johns Hopkins University
• UO
  University of Ottawa
• OH
  Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
• LS
  London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• MU
  McMaster University
• PV
  Portland VA Research Foundation
• UO
  University of Oxford
• MU
  Monash University
• QU
  Queen's University
• UO
  University of Toronto
• AF
  Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• JH
  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• MR
  Medical Research Council

  Award: MR/K025643/1
• NH
  National Health and Medical Research Council