The Role of Journals in Reporting Sex and Gender-Based Outcomes: Should We Adopt Guidelines, and What Else Can We Do to Improve Reporting?

Abstract

➤ Sex and gender are inconsistently reported in musculoskeletal research. A panel of journal editors and other interested parties who participated in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Sex and Gender Reporting in Musculoskeletal Research Symposium met in 2023 to help define the roles of journals and other stakeholders in addressing this issue.➤ This report summarizes the resulting recommendations and presents several different ways in which orthopaedic journals may elect to introduce to their readers, reviewers, and authors the importance of considering sex and gender in orthopaedic research.➤ Many current sex and gender-related funding agency mandates as well as the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines are most readily applied to prospective research and/or randomized controlled trials.➤ The panel was supportive of endorsing SAGER or a similar set of guidelines as a tool that can help authors to consider the most effective means of evaluating the influences of sex and gender within the context of orthopaedic research.➤ Engaging readers, reviewers, and authors on multiple fronts, with purpose and intention, is likely the most important approach to increase awareness and to enhance the quality of evidence utilized to support clinical decisions in orthopaedic surgery.