Reporting sex as a biologic variable in research published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery Publications.

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that most basic science and translational research is conducted on male animals and male cells, even when studying diseases more prevalent in women. Clinical research studies also frequently lack sex-based reporting and sex-based analysis of outcomes. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) now requires that sex be considered as a variable in all NIH-funded research. Given these developments, the Surgery Journals Editors Group published a statement that addresses the importance of conducting sexinclusive biomedical and clinical research to improve health outcomes of men and women. We, the Editors of the Journal of Vascular Surgery Publications that include the Journal of Vascular Surgery, Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders, and the Journal of Vascular Surgery Cases and Innovative Techniques, support the statement of the surgical journal editors that requires uniform, defined sex-based reporting and sex-based analysis of data of human, animal, tissue, and cell research in all manuscripts published in our journals. If only one sex is reported, the authors must justify the reason why only a single-sex study was conducted. We believe this new Journal of Vascular Surgery Publications policy is consistent with the standards of other high-quality