Doug Altman,
who is a founder member of the steering group of BioMed Central’s journal Trials, was this week recognized by
the Council for Science Editors
at the council’s annual meeting in Austin, Texas.

Doug
received the CSE’s Award for Meritorious Achievement for his work to improve
the standards of reporting of clinical research, and in particular the
reporting of the results of clinical trials. The CONSORT statement
recommendations for trial reporting have been extremely influential, both directly
by increasing the attention paid by journals to standards of trial reporting,
and indirectly by encouraging the creation of similar guidelines for other
types of report, such as QUOROM (for systematic
reviews) and STROBE ( for observational
studies).

One of Doug’s latest projects is EQUATOR, a central resource which
seeks to advance the use of such guidelines so as to "improve the quality of health care by promoting the
transparent and accurate reporting of health research".

BioMed
Central would like to congratulate Doug on his thoroughly well-deserved award.