The Single-Case Reporting guideline In BEhavioural interventions (SCRIBE) 2016 statement.
We developed a reporting guideline to provide authors with guidance about what should be reported when writing a paper for publication in a scientific journal using a particular type of research design: the single-case experimental design. This report describes the methods used to develop the Single-Case Reporting guideline In BEhavioural interventions (SCRIBE) 2016. As a result of 2 online surveys and a 2-day meeting of experts, the SCRIBE 2016 checklist was developed, which is a set of 26 items that authors need to address when writing about single-case research. This article complements the more detailed SCRIBE 2016 Explanation and Elaboration article (Tate et al., 2016) that provides a rationale for each of the items and examples of adequate reporting from the literature. Both these resources will assist authors to prepare reports of single-case research with clarity, completeness, accuracy, and transparency. They will also provide journal reviewers and editors with a practical checklist against which such reports may be critically evaluated. We recommend that the SCRIBE 2016 is used by authors preparing manuscripts describing single-case research for publication, as well as journal reviewers and editors who are evaluating such manuscripts.



Reporting guidelines, such as the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement, improve the reporting of research in the medical literature (Turner et al., 2012). Many such guidelines exist and the CONSORT Extension to Nonpharmacological Trials (Boutron et al., 2008) provides suitable guidance for reporting between-groups intervention studies in the behavioral sciences. The CONSORT Extension for N-of-1 Trials (CENT 2015) was developed for multiple crossover trials with single individuals in the medical sciences (Shamseer et al., 2015; Vohra et al., 2015), but there is no reporting guideline in the CONSORT tradition for single-case research used in the behavioral sciences. We developed the Single-Case Reporting guideline In BEhavioural interventions (SCRIBE) 2016 to meet this need. This Statement article describes the methodology of the development of the SCRIBE 2016, along with the outcome of 2 Delphi surveys and a consensus meeting of experts. We present the resulting 26-item SCRIBE 2016 checklist. The article complements the more detailed SCRIBE 2016 Explanation and Elaboration article (Tate et al., 2016) that provides a rationale for each of the items and examples of adequate reporting from the literature. Both these resources will assist authors to prepare reports of single-case research with clarity, completeness, accuracy, and transparency. They will also provide journal reviewers and editors with a practical checklist against which such reports may be critically evaluated. Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/arc0000026.supp.
John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, The Kolling Institute of Medical Research, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia; Sydney Medical School Northern, The University of Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: robyn.tate@sydney.edu.au.
Robyn L
RL
Tate
Department of Neurology, Royal North Shore Hospital, New South Wales, Australia; Discipline of Psychiatry, The University of Sydney, Australia.
Michael
M
Perdices
John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, The Kolling Institute of Medical Research, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia; Sydney Medical School Northern, The University of Sydney, Australia.
Ulrike
U
Rosenkoetter
School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced, United States.
William
W
Shadish
Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada.
Sunita
S
Vohra
Center for Anxiety Related Disorders, Boston University, United States.
David H
DH
Barlow
Department of Special Education and Clinical Services, University of Oregon, United States.
Robert
R
Horner
Department of Psychology, Yale University, United States.
Alan
A
Kazdin
School of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States.
Thomas
T
Kratochwill
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Australia.
Skye
S
McDonald
Library and Media Services, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Margaret
M
Sampson
Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Larissa
L
Shamseer
Discipline of Speech Pathology, The University of Sydney, Australia.
Leanne
L
Togher
Department of Special Education and Clinical Services, University of Oregon, United States.
Richard
R
Albin
Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of British Columbia, Canada.
Catherine
C
Backman
Department of Communication and Clinical Allied Health, La Trobe University, Australia.
Jacinta
J
Douglas
Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Jonathan J
JJ
Evans
Department of Special Education, University of Georgia, United States.
David
D
Gast
Department of Behavioural Sciences Methods, University of Barcelona, Spain.
Rumen
R
Manolov
Discipline of General Practice, University of Queensland, Australia.
Geoffrey
G
Mitchell
Department of Cognitive Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia.
Lyndsey
L
Nickels
Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Australia.
Jane
J
Nikles
School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Australia.
Tamara
T
Ownsworth
Department of Communication and Clinical Allied Health, La Trobe University, Australia.
Miranda
M
Rose
School of Public Health, Brown University, United States.
Christopher H
CH
Schmid
Department of Neuropsychology, Oliver Zangwill Centre, Ely, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.
Barbara
B
Wilson
D035841:Behavioral Research / Q000592:standards*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*
Methodology; Publication standards; Reporting guidelines; Single-case design