Evidence Communication Rules for Policy (ECR-P) critical appraisal tool

Scientific papers are increasingly putting forward policy recommendations thus closing the circle of science, policy and practice. Quality appraisal of scientific-based policy recommendations is crucial, whether within the context of a systematic review or not. The ECR-P (Evidence Communication Rules for Policy) critical appraisal tool is used to assess the quality of both the recommendations and their evidence base putting policymakers, as the end users, centre stage. This tool was developed by a diverse group of researchers and stakeholders, taking into account existing critical appraisal tools. ECR-P is structured in five domains, based on the five rules of evidence communication. The domains include 25 signalling questions addressing aspects of internal and external validity as well as quality of communication. Domain-based judgment is derived from responses to the signalling questions and an accompanying algorithm, followed by overall quality judgement. ECR-P provides a focused, standardized and transparent approach to assessing the quality of scientific-based policy recommendations in any scientific field. ECR-P critical appraisal tool was designed to fit with the systematic reviewing process but also as a stand-alone tool. Besides review assessors, it can also be used by policymakers and policymaking organizations, peer-reviewers and journal editors and any other stakeholders interested in evidence-based policymaking.