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Background: In biomedical research, it is often desirable to seek consensus among individuals who have differing perspectives and experience. This is important when evidence is emerging, inconsistent, limited, or absent. Even when research evidence is abundant, clinical recommendations, policy decisions, and priority-setting may still require agreement from multiple, sometimes ideologically opposed parties. Despite their prominence and influence on key decisions, consensus methods are often poorly reported. Our aim was to develop the first reporting guideline dedicated to and applicable to all consensus methods used in biomedical research regardless of the objective of the consensus process, called ACCORD (ACcurate COnsensus Reporting Document)., Methods and Findings: We followed methodology recommended by the EQUATOR Network for the development of reporting guidelines: a systematic review was followed by a Delphi process and meetings to finalize the ACCORD checklist. The preliminary checklist was drawn from the systematic review of existing literature on the quality of reporting of consensus methods and suggestions from the Steering Committee. A Delphi panel (n = 72) was recruited with representation from 6 continents and a broad range of experience, including clinical, research, policy, and patient perspectives. The 3 rounds of the Delphi process were completed by 58, 54, and 51 panelists. The preliminary checklist of 56 items was refined to a final checklist of 35 items relating to the article title (n = 1), introduction (n = 3), methods (n = 21), results (n = 5), discussion (n = 2), and other information (n = 3)., Conclusions: The ACCORD checklist is the first reporting guideline applicable to all consensus-based studies. It will support authors in writing accurate, detailed manuscripts, thereby improving the completeness and transparency of reporting and providing readers with clarity regarding the methods used to reach agreement. Furthermore, the checklist will make the rigor of the consensus methods used to guide the recommendations clear for readers. Reporting consensus studies with greater clarity and transparency may enhance trust in the recommendations made by consensus panels., Competing Interests: PL is a member of the UK EQUATOR Centre, based in the University of Oxford; EQUATOR promotes the use of reporting guidelines, many of which are developed using consensus methods, and she is personally involved in the development of other reporting guidelines. WTG is an employee of Bristol Myers Squibb. KG is an employee and shareholder of AbbVie. APH, in the past 5 years, has worked with Reckitt Benckiser for the development of the definitions and management of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. CCW is an employee, Director, and shareholder of Oxford PharmaGenesis Ltd, a Director of Oxford Health Policy Forum CIC, a Trustee of the Friends of the National Library of Medicine, and an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. NH is an employee of OPEN Health Communications. ELH is an employee of Camino Communications. DT is co–editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology and chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Centre for Biomedical Transparency. AP, PB and EJvZ report no conflicts of interest. At the outset of the work, NH was an employee of Ogilvy Health UK, WTG was an employee of Ipsen, and ELH was an employee of OPEN Health Communications at the time of manuscript development., (Copyright: © 2024 Gattrell et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Competing Interests: Competing interest: All authors completed an ICMJE conflicts of interest form, available upon request from the corresponding author. All authors are involved, as part of the EQUATOR Network, in the development, update, implementation and dissemination of reporting guidelines.