Use of guidelines, checklists, frameworks, and recommendations in behavioral intervention preliminary studies: A scoping bibliometric review

Background Guidelines, checklists, frameworks, and recommendations (GCFRs) related to preliminary studies serve as essential resources to assist behavioral intervention researchers in reporting findings from preliminary studies, but their impact on preliminary study quality is unknown. The purpose of this study was to conduct a scoping bibliometric review of recently published preliminary behavioral-focused intervention studies to 1) examine the prevalence of GCFR usage and 2) determine the associations between GCFR usage and reporting feasibility-related characteristics. Methods A systematic search was conducted for preliminary studies of behavioral-focused interventions published between 2018-2020. Studies were limited to the top 25 journals publishing behavioral-focused interventions, text mined to identify usage of GCFRs, and categorized as either not citing GCFRs or citing ≥2 GCFRs (Citers). A random sample of non-Citers was text mined to identify studies which cited other preliminary studies that cited GCFRs (Tertiary Citers) and those that did not (Never Citers). The presence/absence of feasibility-related characteristics was compared between Citers, Tertiary Citers, and Never Citers via univariable logistic regression. Results Studies (n=4,143) were identified and 1,316 were text mined to identify GCFR usage (n=167 Citers). A random sample of 200 studies not citing a GCFR were selected and categorized into Tertiary Citers (n=71) and Never Citers (n=129). Compared to Never Citers, Citers had higher odds of reporting retention, acceptability, adverse events, compliance, cost, data collection feasibility, and treatment fidelity (OR range =2.62-14.15, p