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  1. CONSORT 2025 (30 items)
  2. PRISMA 2020 (27 items)
  3. STROBE (22 items)
  4. ARRIVE 2.0 (21 items, two tiers)

Academy · Research Writing · Reporting Checklists

Fillable Reporting Checklists: CONSORT 2025, PRISMA 2020, STROBE and ARRIVE 2.0

Four checklists are presented with the detail that most fillable versions omit: the approximate location in a typical manuscript at which each item is usually satisfied, so that completing the checklist and writing the manuscript become a single task.

Pubrica AcademyWritten by a clinical research methodologist Reviewed bya medical writing reviewer Published10 October 2026 Last checked10 October 2026 Reading time8 minutes Sources4 peer-reviewed

A reporting checklist is useful only if it is completed while the manuscript is being written rather than reconstructed afterwards from memory. Each row below pairs a checklist item with the manuscript section in which it is usually satisfied, for the four reporting guidelines used most often across Pubrica’s own article portfolio.

Learning objectives

  • The section-level structure of CONSORT 2025's 30 items.
  • The section-level structure of PRISMA 2020's 27 items.
  • The section-level structure of STROBE's 22 items.
  • The two-tier structure of ARRIVE 2.0's 21 items.

Common misconceptions

  • “Completing a reporting checklist after the manuscript is finished is as effective as completing it during drafting.” A checklist completed after the fact tends to identify gaps only when restructuring the manuscript has become costly; used as a drafting companion, section by section, it identifies a missing item while it remains inexpensive to add.

CONSORT 2025 (30 items)

Title/abstract → Title page, Abstract
Introduction (background, objectives) → Introduction
Methods (design, participants, interventions, outcomes, sample size, randomisation, blinding, statistical methods, analysis populations) → Methods
Open science items (registration, protocol access, data sharing, funding/COI) → Methods end + Declarations
Results (participant flow, recruitment, baseline data, numbers analysed, outcomes, harms) → Results
Discussion (limitations, interpretation) → Discussion

PRISMA 2020 (27 items)

Title/abstract → Title page, Abstract
Introduction (rationale, objectives) → Introduction
Methods (eligibility, information sources, search strategy, selection/data-collection process, data items, risk-of-bias method, effect measures, synthesis methods, reporting-bias method, certainty-assessment method) → Methods
Results (study selection, characteristics, risk of bias, individual results, synthesis results, reporting bias, certainty) → Results
Discussion → Discussion
Other information (registration, support, competing interests, data availability) → Declarations

STROBE (22 items)

Title/abstract → Title page, Abstract
Introduction (background, objectives) → Introduction
Methods (design, setting, participants, variables, data sources, bias, study size, quantitative variables, statistical methods) → Methods
Results (participants, descriptive data, outcome data, main results, other analyses) → Results
Discussion (key results, limitations, interpretation, generalisability) → Discussion
Other information (funding) → Declarations

ARRIVE 2.0 (21 items, two tiers)

Essential 10 (non-negotiable minimum) → Study design, sample size, inclusion/exclusion criteria: Methods. Randomisation, blinding: Methods. Outcome measures, statistical methods: Methods. Experimental animals, procedures: Methods. Results: Results.
Recommended Set (additive) → Abstract, background, objectives: front matter. Ethical statement, housing/husbandry, animal care: Methods. Interpretation, generalisability: Discussion. Protocol registration, data access, declarations: Declarations.

Key points

Key points

The items of each checklist map predictably onto the existing sections of a manuscript; completing the checklist alongside drafting, section by section, rather than retrofitting it afterwards, keeps the exercise efficient and avoids last-minute revision.

Practical application

Practical application

  1. The relevant checklist should be consulted while each section is drafted, not only before submission. Each item should be checked off as its section is written, so that a gap is identified while the missing sentence or table can still be added easily.
  2. The current version of each checklist should be used. CONSORT 2025 (30 items), PRISMA 2020 (27 items), STROBE (22 items) and ARRIVE 2.0 (21 items, Essential 10 + Recommended Set) are the current versions at the time of writing; the official site should be consulted before a saved copy is relied upon.
  3. Open-science and declaration items should be treated as substantive content rather than boilerplate. Registration, data availability and funding or conflict-of-interest (COI) statements require accurate, specific wording for the study concerned, not a generic sentence copied from a previous manuscript.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. A systematic review of diagnostic-accuracy studies, for example, might follow PRISMA for its own reporting and discuss the STARD compliance of the included studies; authors should determine which checklist governs the manuscript being written and which governs the studies being reviewed.

Most journals request the completed checklist as a supplementary file at submission, with page or line numbers indicating where each item is satisfied in the manuscript; the instructions of the specific journal should be consulted.

Journal practice varies, but an item that genuinely does not apply should be marked as not applicable with a brief reason, rather than left blank or silently omitted.

References

  1. Hopewell S, Chan A-W, Collins GS, et al. CONSORT 2025 statement. PLOS Medicine. 2025;22(4):e1004587. read 10 October 2026. View on PubMed Central
  2. Page MJ, McKenzie JE, Bossuyt PM, et al. The PRISMA 2020 statement. BMJ. 2021;372:n71. read 10 October 2026. View on The BMJ
  3. von Elm E, Altman DG, Egger M, et al. The STROBE Statement. PLoS Medicine. 2007;4(10):e296. read 10 October 2026. View on PLOS Medicine
  4. Percie du Sert N, Hurst V, Ahluwalia A, et al. The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0. PLOS Biology. 2020;18(7):e3000410. read 10 October 2026. View on PLOS Biology

Every source above is a peer-reviewed article, a publisher’s record of one, or a standard issued by the body that owns it. Each carries the date it was last read. Where a standard moves, this article is revised rather than left up with a note.

How to cite this article

Pick your referencing style and copy it. Your university or target journal may vary the punctuation — check its guide if it has one.

Pubrica Academy. (2026, October 10). Fillable Reporting Checklists: CONSORT 2025, PRISMA 2020, STROBE and ARRIVE 2.0. Pubrica. https://pubrica.com/academy/templates/reporting-checklists-to-complete/

This article is written to be learned from. Cite it if you are referring to what it says; if you are using the evidence behind it, cite the sources listed above instead.

Checklist-to-section crosswalk

For reference alongside the manuscript during drafting.

Guideline: ____  Item #: ____  Manuscript section it belongs in: ____  Satisfied? [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] N/A (reason: ____)

Pubrica AcademyWritten and maintained by Pubrica’s subject matter experts. Articles are revised when the underlying standards change, and each article states the date on which it was last reviewed.

How Pubrica can help

Pubrica completes the relevant checklist alongside the first draft rather than afterwards, so that a missing item requires a brief addition rather than a late-stage rewrite.

Submit an enquiry Get your reporting checklist completed properly

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