Excerpt

On August 30, 2011, the Institute of Medicine hosted a workshop, Sex-Specific Reporting of Scientific Research, sponsored by the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The workshop explored the need for sex-specific reporting of scientific results; potential barriers and unintended consequences of sex-specific reporting of scientific results; experiences of journals that have implemented sex-specific requirements, including the challenges and benefits of such editorial policies; and steps to facilitate the reporting of sex-specific results. Presenters and participants included current and former editors of scientific journals, researchers, and scientists and policymakers from government, industry, and nonprofit organizations. Presentations and discussions highlighted the importance to both women and men of having sex-specific data, the problems with sample size and financial constraints for conducting the research, the appropriateness of sex-specific analyses, and the limitations of journal policies to change experimental designs. During closing remarks, the planning committee chair summarized some of the individual suggestions discussed for advancing sex-specific reporting as: identifying the sex of populations in journal populations, sharing of sex-identified raw data, giving “extra credit” in review to manuscripts that include sex-specific information, and requiring sex-stratified analyses where applicable.

Contents

• THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
• PLANNING COMMITTEE ON SEX-SPECIFIC REPORTING OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: A WORKSHOP
• Reviewers
• OVERVIEW
• INTRODUCTION
• INCLUSION OF WOMEN IN CLINICAL TRIALS FUNDED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
• WHY SEX-SPECIFIC REPORTING IS IMPORTANT
  • Early History
  • The Need to Study Both Sexes
  • Raising Awareness of Sex Differences
  • Barriers to Studying Sex Differences
  • Other Groups
  • Managing the Data
• THE RESEARCHER PERSPECTIVE: COLLECTING, ANALYZING, AND REPORTING SEX-SPECIFIC DATA
  • Collecting the Data: Sex in Biomedical Research
  • Analyzing the Data: Methods of Subgroup Analysis
  • Reporting the Data
• THE EDITOR PERSPECTIVE: IMPLEMENTING JOURNAL EDITORIAL POLICIES
  • Editorial Policy-Making
  • Sex and Gender Medicine vs Women’s Health
  • Preclinical vs Clinical Studies
  • Moving Toward Broader Sex-Specific Reporting
• IMPLICATIONS FOR JOURNALS OF SEX-SPECIFIC REPORTING POLICIES OF JOURNALS
  • Nonclinical Science Journals
  • Interdisciplinary Science Journals
  • Medical Journals
  • Suggestions from the Editors
• LOOKING FORWARD
  • The Role of Editorial Policy
  • Statistical Power for Subgroup Analysis
  • Summary of Participants’ Suggestions for Advancing Sex-Specific Reporting
• CLOSING REMARKS
• REFERENCES
• APPENDIXES
  • A Workshop Agenda
  • B Speaker Biosketches
  • C Planning Committee Biosketches

Rapporteur: Theresa M. Wizemann, Ph.D.

This study was supported by Contract N01-OD-4-2139, TO 246 between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institutes of Health.

Suggested citation:

IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2012. Sex-specific reporting of scientific research: A workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.