Anatomical Variation Quality Assessment Tool (AVQAT): Structured Guide for Reporting and Assessing the Quality of...

Anatomical variations are common and often clinically important, yet their description frequently relies on isolated case reports or small series with heterogeneous reporting quality. Incomplete documentation of specimen characteristics, inconsistent anatomical definitions and terminology, insufficient description of visualization methods, limited quantitative measurements, and suboptimal figures all reduce reproducibility and limit comparison and data synthesis. To address the lack of an anatomy-specific quality assessment, the Anatomical Variation Quality Assessment Tool (AVQAT) is introduced as a structured instrument intended for authors, reviewers, and editors. AVQAT comprises two sections organized into nine domains. Section A evaluates technical and descriptive quality across six domains: general aspects, specimen characteristics, anatomical definition, methods of visualization, quantitative description and measurements, and quality and use of figures. Section B evaluates interpretative and contextual quality in three domains: differential diagnostic considerations, identification and integration of previous studies, and ethical and regulatory considerations. Each domain contains targeted items that can be assessed systematically using "Yes," "No," or "Not applicable" responses. The tool is designed to complement, not replace, generic case-report guidance by focusing on the specific demands of anatomical documentation and thereby facilitating higher-quality reporting and more reliable evidence synthesis in scoping and systematic reviews.