Prospective systematic review registration: perspective from the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N)

Clinical practice and public health guidelines are "systematically developed statements designed to help practitioners and patients to make decisions about appropriate healthcare for specific circumstances" [1] (p. 38). The Institute of Medicine recently updated this early definition to underscore the importance of systematic review of the evidence and both benefits and harms assessment as essential characteristics of practice guidelines: "Clinical practice guidelines are statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care, that are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and harms of alternative care options" [2] (p. 4). In healthcare services, clinical guidelines are considered important instruments with which to improve and manage the care process [3-6]. Important goals in developing and implementing guidelines are higher quality and improved cost-effectiveness of interventions, ideally resulting in improved health outcomes [7,8].The growing body of knowledge in the field of clinical guidelines has provided opportunities for international collaboration. In 2002, the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N) was founded to provide a network and partnerships for guideline organizations, implementers, researchers and other stakeholders in healthcare [9]. G-I-N seeks to improve the quality of health care by promoting the systematic development of guidelines and their application to practice.One of the key features in developing guidelines is to ensure that guideline recommendations are based, as much as possible, on high-quality systematic reviews of the best available evidence. Similarly, the review process used by guideline developers to identify and grade relevant evidence for developing recommendations should be systematic, transparent and unbiased. The medical literature is expanding quickly [10], and ongoing collaboration between guideline developers and systematic reviewers is needed to maximize the us