Table 3 An example of ensuring the use of systematic and transparent methods in an international organisation

The World Health Organization (WHO) has had guidelines for guidelines since 2003, emphasising the use of systematic reviews for the evidence of effects, processes that allow for the explicit incorporation of other types of information (including values), and evidence-informed dissemination and implementation strategies. However, until 2007 systematic reviews were rarely used for developing recommendations [53]. Instead, processes usually relied heavily on experts in a particular specialty, rather than representatives of those who have to live with the consequences of those recommendations, or experts in particular methodological areas. To address these problems and to ensure the use of systematic and transparent methods, WHO has taken a number of actions, based on a review of its own work and the methods used by others [21, 26, 40, 53–55]. These actions include:

• Revising and updating a manual describing the methods that are to be used, which is updated and revised based on both WHO’s experience and new developments

• Establishing a committee with a mandate to review and approve plans for developing recommendations prior to initiating the work, and recommendations prior to their publication

• Developing checklists for assessing recommendations and plans for developing recommendations based on the manual

• Establishing a secretariat and a network to provide training and support to implement the methods described in the manual, and

• Monitoring and evaluating the impacts of these arrangements to ensure the use of systematic and transparent methods