Developing the Consensus for APP Review Reporting Items (CAPPRRI) guidance v1

<p>Background:Published systematic reviews of mHealth apps, which identify available apps via a systematic search of app markets and undertake quality assessments, are authoritative pieces of evidence which can inform healthcare decision-makers, guide app choice by patients and clinicians, help identify gaps in the field to guide researchers and industry in developing new products and inform evaluation research. The conduct of these types of reviews is rapidly growing; however, many reviews are currently insufficiently informative. There is no specific reporting guideline for mHealth app reviews, and other reporting guidance does not sufficiently address the unique aspects of digital products. Aim:To develop the CAPPRRI reporting guidance. Objectives:1. Reach consensus on core items for inclusion in the CAPPRRI guidance.2. Develop an editable flow diagram and reporting checklist to support the reporting guidance. 3. Disseminate the guidance to relevant stakeholders. Methods:A mixed-methods, multi-phase Delphi approach will be used to co-produce the CAPPRRI guidance, including two survey rounds followed by a consensus meeting. The guidance will be published in peer-reviewed journals with the checklist and flow diagram appended as editable resources. We may also record a training video. Outputs will be made publicly accessible on the EQUATOR Network and NIHR ARC-GM websites. We will also contact journal editors working with journals that publish these types of reviews to request that they promote CAPPRRI under ‘author guidelines’ on their websites and make it mandatory to submit a completed checklist with manuscripts. Lastly, we will email authors who have registered a relevant protocol to direct them to our guidance.</p>