Better research reporting to improve the utility of routine data for making better treatment decisions

The availability of routinely collected health data, such as health administrative data, electronic health records, prescription records and disease registries, has increased in the information age. This has led to an explosion of reports of comparativeness effectiveness research using such data. Guidelines for the REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely-collected Data (RECORD) will improve the completeness and transparency of reporting of research using routinely collected health data. The Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research has endorsed these guidelines. In this commentary, the RECORD checklist is reprinted and members of the RECORD working committee reflect on the importance of these reporting guidelines for the field of comparative effectiveness research.