Evaluating and ranking guidelines on traditional and integrative medicine globally: Establishment of the International STAR-TIM Committee

Abstract

To further enhance the quality and transparency of practice guidelines and consensus statements, the Scientific, Transparent, and Applicable Rankings (STAR) working group was officially established and commenced its work in 2021. The STAR tool contains 39 items grouped into 11 domains, with each domain and item assigned to a weight that reflects its importance. In 2021–2022, a total of 266 Chinese Traditional and Integrative Medicine (TIM) guidelines and consensus statements met the inclusion criteria for STAR evaluation. After evaluating these TIM guidelines and consensus statements, the highest STAR score achieved was 96.5 (out of 100), with a median score 23.3 and a mean score of 32.0. As the number of TIM guidelines and consensus statements published globally continues to increase, the STAR Secretariat aims to establish an International STAR Specialty Committee for TIM. Utilizing the integrated STAR evaluation system and large language models, the committee seeks to enhance the efficiency of evaluations without compromising accuracy. This initiative aims to conduct evaluations of international TIM guidelines and consensus statements, thereby improving their quality and transparency. Additionally, it will assess the importance and necessity of developing the International STAR-TIM Extension.