Meta-Resrach and Quality of Evidence

Why ESPN Needs a new Meta-Research Working Group

Call for new members

The European Society of Pediatric Nephrology (ESPN) is committed to advancing excellence in research and patient care for children with kidney diseases. To achieve this, it is essential to critically evaluate how we con-duct, report, and translate research into clinical practice. A dedicated Meta-Research Working Group will allow us to systematically examine the quality, transparency, reproducibility, and clinical relevance of pediatric nephrology studies. By identifying strengths and addressing methodological weaknesses, we aim to improve the robustness of research findings and ensure better-informed clinical decision-making.

Background for the proposal

Meta-research is a new growing field of research that studies research practices with the aim of finding evi-dence-based improvements. Meta-research is the study of research itself, such as its methods, reporting, reproducibility, evaluation, and incentives and has grown in response to the many problems of previous re-search practices. If clinical research is not properly planned, conducted and reported, patient care will ulti-mately suffer. In addition, in the field of evidence-based medicine (EBM), the current systematic review and meta-analyses have faced at the problems such as redundancy, misleading, and conflicting results between meta-analyses on a similar topic or statistical problems. Teaching meta-research to ESPN will improve the qual-ity of science in the field of pediatric Nephrology, which will eventually lead to best clinical practice.

Aim of meta-research working group in ESPN

The Meta-Research Working Group aims to identify and minimize persistent threats to the quality of medical research in current research practices (methods, reporting, reproducibility, evaluation and incentives) and to prevent misinterpretation of evidence for best patient care.

Vision

Better research improves patient care in paediatric nephrology.

Mission

Meta-research Working Group in ESPN will be committed to educating, training, conducting meta-research beyond meta-analysis to all the students, researchers, professors, educators, stakeholders, policymakers who want to learn EBM and meta-research.

Action plan

(1) Teaching and educating meta-research to ESPN

These include (1) methods (biases in design, conduction or analysis in different research designs, statistical significance and p-hacking), (2) reporting (pre- registration of research, adherence to international guidelines in various research designs, transparency and open science, misinterpretation of evidence), (3) reproducibility (replication validity, scientific rigor), (4) scientific integrity (Errors and scientific misconduct and retraction in research, (5) evidence based medicine (GRADE approach, determining level of evidence), (6) evaluation (re-searcher assessment, peer review), (7) incentives (funding structures, incentives to researchers).

(2) Interactions with other working groups in ESPN

Because meta-research is about research methodology and ensuring that research moves in the right direc-tion in all research areas, this group will cooperate with all existing other ESPN-working groups within.

We warmly invite all ESPN members—clinicians, researchers, and trainees alike—to join this new initiative. Your expertise and engagement are vital to help us shape a more rigorous and impactful research culture in pediatric nephrology.

Please contact with further questions or if you want to become a member

Prof. Jae Il Shin (SHINJI@yuhs.ac)
Prof. Karolis Ažukaitis (karolis.azukaitis@mf.vu.lt)
Prof. Elena Levtchenko (e.n.levtchenko@amsterdamumc.nl)
Prof. Jun Oh (j.oh@uke.de)