Improving the quality of reporting Chinese herbal medicine trials: an elaborated checklist

In order to improve the quality of reporting Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) trials, an elaborated checklist was developed according to the basic characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and on the basis of the Reporting Randomized Controlled Trials of Herbal Interventions: An Elaborated CONSORT Statement. This checklist adopted the 22 items of the Herbal CONSORT Statement with some necessary elaboration and modification in the detailed contents of 11 items, among which, the items of Participants, Intervention, Control group and Outcomes were elaborated and modified accordingly to adapt TCM characteristics. Since the design and reporting of trials on Chinese proprietary medicine and herbal decoctions are different in some aspects, the checklist provided two sets of elaborated item 4 (interventions). We hope that authors, journal editors and peer reviewers find this checklist instructive.