Procedures on the Publication of ILAE Reports

The procedures below apply to all publications generated by ILAE Organizational Entities (OE). Such an entity cannot publish a report including the ILAE name without having followed these procedures. OEs include Regions, Councils, Commissions, Committees, Task Forces and Sections.

If an OE creates a group to write a report, it is recommended that the authorship be appropriately representative of the diversity of the ILAE membership and epilepsy community as it pertains to the content and purpose of the report.

Funding by the ILAE should be acknowledged if applicable.

It is possible that a report belongs to more than one of the categories listed below. Authors are then encouraged to select the most appropriate category. Authors are also encouraged to generate, if appropriate, more than one publication regarding a particular topic (for instance a Clinical Practice Guideline and an Educational Paper on how to implement it in practice). If authors are unsure of the procedure to follow, they should contact the chair of the Publication Council or of the Standards and Best Practice (SBP) Council depending on the type of paper proposed.

Type of documents

Position paper
Systematic review of the literature
Narrative review of the literature
Consensus based recommendations
Clinical practice guideline
Clinical educational paper
Educational papers for experimental work
Research paper
Other papers

 

Position paper 

Description Reviewing Body
A set of statements reflecting the current opinions and practices developed and endorsed by the ILAE. These papers will primarily address topics that provide a common language or set of definitions for the international epilepsy community (e.g., defining epilepsy, defining specific syndromes, seizure classification). Executive Committee

 

The League will have a limited number of published positions. These papers will primarily address topics that provide a common language or set of definitions for the international epilepsy community (e.g., defining epilepsy, defining specific syndromes, classification). The basic rule of providing a common language or set of definitions will apply in all cases for League position papers.

Before these papers are written they will be designated as potential ILAE position papers either by assignment from the Executive Committee (EC) or by mutual agreement between the EC and a commission or task force that is recommending that a League position be taken. In assigning the task, the EC will be clear in the scope and goals of the work. Whenever applicable, the EC may ask to also accompany the position paper with an educational paper to be published in Epileptic Disorders. The 2 papers may be submitted concomitantly, referencing each other.

The submitted paper should be reviewed by the EC for overall approval of concept and content. Following EC review the proposed position papers will be submitted to one of the League’s journals for peer review and will simultaneously be placed on the web for a period of 2 months for public comment. There will be repeated requests made to our members for their input (a public peer review). The comments will be reviewed and incorporated as appropriate by a task force (as described below). The revised document will be sent to the EC for final approval and if accepted it will be designated as the ILAE position.

Responsibilities for the review of the comments and the inclusion of appropriate comments will be assigned to a task force that is created specifically for this purpose. The assignment to the task force will be to review and edit the document in light of the comments. The task force will not begin the process over, and members of the task force must limit their efforts to addressing the issues raised in the reviews and public comments. To assure that there is continuity in the thought process from the original drafting, there will be equal numbers from the original task force and new members. New members will be selected by the EC and will include an editor from the journal where the paper is to be published and a member of the EC. The responsibility of the EC member is to assure that the focus remains on integrating the reviews and public comments into the final version as deemed appropriate. The final draft must conform to journal guidelines. To assure timely publication of the paper, this task force will be given 6 months from naming of the group to sending the document to the EC for final approval.

ILAE positions that are based on evolving science should be subject to reviews at appropriate intervals to determine if revisions are needed.

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Systematic review of the literature

Description Reviewing Body
Summary of the literature using explicit and reproducible methods to systematically search, critically appraise, and synthesize a specific  topic. Publication Council

 

Organizational Entities planning such a report must, early in the planning, write a one or two-page outline of the proposed paper, including a clear statement of the purpose of the paper, documenting a need and a gap, the methodology to be used and the journal targeted by the authors. This outline will be submitted to the Publication Council, which will make recommendations regarding content and form and decide if the targeted journal (Epileptic Disorders, Epilepsia, Epilepsia Open) is appropriate. If the report presents a consensus view, the authors should indicate in the manuscript how consensus was reached or differences resolved, if applicable. The paper will then undergo an enhanced review by the journal editor, with at least two reviewers.

The paper will include the ILAE group’s title (e.g. Commission on Diagnostics) and the type of paper (e.g., Consensus, Review, Report of Workshop, Proposal by/for) in the title of the article.  The paper will be expected to meet a high level of scholarship. 

When planning a report, ILAE Organizational Entities should take into consideration the following issues:

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Narrative review of the literature

Description Reviewing Body
Non-systematic, subjective summary of the literature, not based on a pre-specified review protocol, comprehensive search of the literature or critical evaluation of the evidence based on explicit and transparent methods. Publication Council

 

Organizational Entities planning such a report must, early in the planning, write a one or two-page outline of the proposed paper, including a clear statement of the purpose of the paper, documenting a need and a gap, the methodology to be used and the journal targeted by the authors. This outline will be submitted to the Publication Council, which will make recommendations regarding content and form and decide if the targeted journal (Epileptic Disorders, Epilepsia, Epilepsia Open) is appropriate. If the report presents a consensus view, the authors should indicate in the manuscript how consensus was reached or differences resolved, if applicable. The paper will then undergo an enhanced review by the journal editor, with at least two reviewers.

The paper will include the ILAE group’s title (e.g. Commission on Diagnostics) and the type of paper (e.g., Consensus, Review, Report of Workshop, Proposal by/for) in the title of the article.  The paper will be expected to meet a high level of scholarship. 

When planning a report, ILAE Organizational Entities should take into consideration the following issues:

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Consensus based recommendations

Description Reviewing Body
A summary of the opinions of an independent and representative panel of experts about a particular issue. It is based on the results of surveying the general opinions of the participants and do not necessarily imply unanimity. Expert consensus is helpful in providing guidance when no evidence or limited evidence is available or when controversies exist. It can be developed with different methods. Standards and Best Practice Council

 

Such papers will be developed following all the rules set out by the Standards and Best Practice Council (SBP Council) and posted on the ILAE website.  
 
The process for consensus-based recommendations is still in development. For the time being, please send any request for such publications to the ILAE SBP Council Delphi/Consensus Methodology Task Force. 

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Clinical practice guidelines

Description Reviewing Body
 Clinical practice guidelines include the following elements:
  • Informed by a systematic review of the evidence
  • Developed by a multidisciplinary panel of knowledgeable experts and representatives from key stakeholders
  • Incorporate patient preference, where applicable
  • Based on a systematic and transparent process that minimizes bias and conflict of interest
  • Provide a description of alternative care choices and health outcomes
  • Provide ratings of the quality of evidence and strength of the recommendations (GRADE)
  • Are revised regularly, to incorporate new evidence that requires modifications of the recommendations.
Standards and Best Practice Council

 

Such papers will be developed following all the rules set out by the Standards and Best Practice Council (SBP Council) and posted on the ILAE website.

The CPG protocol (S3) should be reviewed by the ILAE Standards and Best Practice Council Methodology Working Group for approval.  Once the CPG manuscript is completed, It will need to be reviewed again by the SBP Methodology Working Group and should also be reviewed by the professional organization of the target users. Once this draft has been approved by the ILAE SBM Methodology Working Group, it should be posted on the ILAE website for public comments for a period of 30 days. A final draft will be submitted to an ILAE journal (Epilepsia, Epilepsia Open or Epileptic Disorders) for publication where it will undergo standard editorial and peer review.  The final document, with all changes incorporated after peer review, should be sent back to the methodology group for final approval before publication. The final version of the CPG will require approval of the Executive Committee before publication. CPGs should be published Open Access. The title must make it clear that it is an ILAE guideline.

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Clinical educational papers

Description Reviewing Body
Educational papers related to clinical issues should be linked to the activities of the ILAE Academy and should align with its educational/learning objectives. Education Council and editor of Epileptic Disorders

 

These papers should be linked to the activities of the ILAE Academy and should align with its educational/learning objectives. They should be generally targeted for publication in Epileptic Disorders. Authors planning an Educational paper should discuss at the planning stage its content with the Education Council and the journal editor. These papers do not need to be reviewed by the Publication Council.

ILAE may be part of the title. If it is not, then the name of the OE should be present in the abstract.

The authors can be identified as representing an ILAE Organizational Entity and the Entity can appear among the authors.

The following disclaimer should be used:

"This report was written by experts selected by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and was approved for publication by the ILAE. Opinions expressed by the authors, however, do not necessarily represent the policy or position of the ILAE."

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 Educational papers related to experimental or translational research

Description Reviewing Body
Educational papers related to experimental and translational work Neurobiology Commission and journal editor

 

These papers should generally target publication in Epilepsia or Epilepsia Open. Authors planning such a paper should discuss its content with the Neurobiology Commission and the journal editor at the planning stage. These papers do not need to be reviewed by the Publication Council.

ILAE may be part of the title. If it is not, then the name of the OE should be present in the abstract.

The authors can be identified as representing an ILAE Organizational Entity and the Entity can appear among the authors; if the ILAE name appears, Disclaimer 1 below should be included. 

The following disclaimer should be used:

"This report was written by experts selected by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and was approved for publication by the ILAE. Opinions expressed by the authors, however, do not necessarily represent the policy or position of the ILAE."

The Publication Council and Executive Committee should be informed of the paper acceptance.

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Research paper

Description Reviewing Body
A research paper in which an ILAE organizational Entity is taking part. Publication Council

 

If an ILAE Organizational Entity has taken part in a research study and wants to use its name as an author of the report or indicate that a group of authors belongs to this entity, it must submit the paper to the Publication Council with an explanation of the role played by the Organizational Entity in the report. This role must be substantial for the Publication Council to agree that the use of the ILAE name is acceptable. Such a report can be submitted to any journal of the authors’ choosing.

ILAE should not be part of the title.

The following disclaimer should be used and “XXX on behalf of the ILAE Commission on YYY” can be used in the author list.

Select which of the following two formulations is appropriate. Use the third, which includes both, if both apply:

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Other papers

Any paper that proposes to include the ILAE name and does not fall in one of the above categories must be submitted to the Publication Council, which will assess the suitability of retaining the ILAE name, before it is submitted for publication.

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27 November 2022