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Assessment of the Reporting Quality of Randomized Controlled Trials on Peer Tutoring in Medical Education
Xiaoli Zhang1, Yanru Chen2, Fuwu Wang1
1Department of Anatomy & Histoembryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, 250012 Jinan, Shandong, China.
Aims/Background:
Peer tutoring (PT) has been increasingly adopted as an innovative pedagogical approach in medical education. However, the methodological rigor and reporting quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating PT remain unclear. This study aimed to assess the reporting quality of PT-related RCTs using the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) 2010 guidelines.
Methods:
A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science was conducted to identify RCTs that investigated PT interventions among medical students, focusing on publications after 2010. Eligible studies were screened independently by two researchers. Reporting quality was evaluated using the 28-item CONSORT 2010 checklist, and overall quality scores (OQSs) were calculated.
Results:
Forty-eight RCTs were included. The majority were published after 2015, with 37.5% between 2016 and 2020 and 35.4% between 2021 and 2025. Most studies were conducted in Europe or North America (75%), while 25% were from Asia. Approximately 81.3% of publications included in this analysis were published in journals with an impact factor below 4. The median OQS was 20 (range: 7-24). High compliance was observed for items such as abstract structure (95.8%), intervention details (100%), and outcome definition (100%), whereas randomization restriction (27.1%), allocation concealment (27.1%), implementation (25.0%), adverse event reporting (2.1%), and protocol availability (33.3%) were poorly reported.
Conclusion:
Despite the growing application of RCTs to evaluate PT in medical education, adherence to CONSORT 2010 remains suboptimal. Key methodological elements-particularly randomization, allocation concealment, and trial registration-were frequently underreported, which limits the interpretability and reproducibility of studies. Targeted training, stricter journal requirements, and education-specific CONSORT extensions are recommended to improve reporting quality in future PT-related RCTs.
Registration:
PROSPERO (CRD420261355464).
