Improving the quality of the evidence: the necessity to lead by example

Published systematic reviews and meta-analyses should comply with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, or PRISMA checklist. Variable reporting of systematic reviews has recently led to a number of publications demonstrating a lack of compliance with PRISMA. Poor reporting compliance can lower researchers’ and clinicians’ ability to detect bias in published research and can also lead to impaired clinical decision-making. The authors of this paper support the need for greater adherence to PRISMA standards when preparing systematic reviews and meta-analyses for publication and call on researchers who are drawing attention to this problem to lead by example.