A systematic review of titles and abstracts of experimental studies in medical education: many informative elements missing

Context Informative titles and s facilitate reading and searching the literature. Objective To evaluate the quality of titles and s of full‐length reports of experimental studies in medical education. Methods We used a random sample of 110 articles (of 185 eligible articles) describing education experiments. Articles were published in 2003 and 2004 in Academic Medicine, Advances in Health Sciences Education, American Journal of Surgery, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Medical Education and Teaching and Learning in Medicine. Titles were categorised as informative, indicative, neither, or both. s were evaluated for the presence of a rationale, objective, descriptions of study design, setting, participants, study intervention and comparison group, main outcomes, results and conclusions. Results Of the 105 articles suitable for review, 86 (82%) had an indicative title and 10 (10%) had a title that was both indicative and informative. A rationale was present in 66 s (63%), objectives were present in 84 (80%), descriptions of study design in 20 (19%), setting in 29 (28%), and number and stage of training of participants in 42 (40%). The study intervention was defined in 55 (52%) s. Among the 48 studies with a control or comparison group, this group was defined in 21 s (44%). Study outcomes were defined in 64 s (61%). Data were presented in 48 (46%) s. Conclusions were presented in 97 s (92%). Conclusions Reports of experimental studies in medical education frequently lack the essential elements of informative titles and s. More informative reporting is needed.