Publishing on Highly Complex Orthotic Interventions in Highly Complex Conditions

The needs of children are usually considered as paramount. In this context, a request is being made for all journals to review their capacity to include articles on highly complex orthotic interventions for highly complex conditions, including cerebral palsy (CP). A recent Scoping Review evaluated whether authors and editors complied with the 2010 Best Practice Guidelines for Reporting ankle-foot orthosis interventions for children with CP.1,2 Despite the guidelines and previous international consensus conferences advocating for comprehensive documentation of orthotic interventions, the scoping review found reporting to be inconsistent and inadequate, and there were persistent gaps.1 Just 9 of 64 publications complied with reporting essential alignments, and only 11 referred to the guidelines. The 64 publications were spread across 35 journals (Appendix 1). Some well-established journals performed very poorly. One such journal had none of 11 publications compliant, another had two of eight compliant, another one of five compliant, and another none of three compliant. Some 26 journals published one article on the topic, and just two of those articles complied. A statement made in Ridgewell et al, that “there was considerable variety in the level and quality of detail reported. This limits any assessment of intervention quality and the impact this may have on confidence in the findings” unfortunately still holds true in 2026.1,2 In the light of these findings, journals should review their capacity to include studies on highly complex orthotic interventions for highly complex conditions, such as CP. By enhancing the quality of reporting, the field can progress towards more effective and coherent evidence-based interventions for children with CP. It would be beneficial to children for journals to now cooperate together and decide which journals are best placed to be able to accept and review submissions on such topics. In the meantime, if a journal chooses to include ankle-foot orthosis interventions for children with CP in their remit, they should ensure that the original guidelines2 and the upgraded guidelines1 are adhered to. This editorial is published as Open Access to allow other journals to republish the statement as they review their scope and instructions to authors, and possibly collaborate with other journals to decide which are best positioned to receive submissions on highly complex orthotic interventions for highly complex conditions.