Welcome to the CONSORT Statement Website

CONSORT, which stands for Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials, encompasses various initiatives developed by the CONSORT Group to alleviate the problems arising from inadequate reporting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

The main product of CONSORT is the CONSORT Statement, which is an evidence-based, minimum set of recommendations for reporting RCTs. It offers a standard way for authors to prepare reports of trial findings, facilitating their complete and transparent reporting, and aiding their critical appraisal and interpretation.

The CONSORT Statement comprises a 25-item checklist and a flow diagram, along with some brief descriptive text. The checklist items focus on reporting how the trial was designed, analyzed, and interpreted; the flow diagram displays the progress of all participants through the trial.

Considered an evolving document, the CONSORT Statement is subject to periodic changes as new evidence emerges. This website contains the current definitive version of the CONSORT Statement and up-to-date information on extensions.

The recent publication of CONSORT 2010 Statement now makes the previous version, CONSORT 2001 Statement, out-dated. Users of the guideline are strongly recommended to refer to this most up-to-date version while writing or interpreting reports of clinical trials. In conjunction, the content of the CONSORT website has also been changed to reflect CONSORT 2010.

The various official CONSORT Extensions are currently being updated to reflect the revised CONSORT 2010 checklist. Please check back here for updates on this process.

The CONSORT “Explanation and Elaboration” document explains and illustrates the principles underlying the CONSORT Statement. We strongly recommend that it is used in conjunction with the CONSORT Statement.

In addition, Extensions of the CONSORT Statement have been developed to give additional guidance for RCTs with specific designs, data and interventions.

The CONSORT Statement is endorsed by prominent general medical journals, many specialty medical journals, and leading editorial organizations.

CONSORT is part of a broader effort, to improve the reporting of different types of health research, and indeed, to improve the quality of research used in decision-making in healthcare.