Table 3 . Reporting quality of 79 observational Iranian medical education published articles between 2003 and 2008 based on the modified STROBE checklist .

Paper Section	Item	Descriptor	Frequency (%)
Title and abstract	Study design	Yes	46 (58.2)
		No	23 (29.1)
		Incorrect*	10 (12.7)
Introduction	Background/rationale	Yes	75 (94.9)
		No	4 (5.1)
	Objectives	Yes	74 (93.7)
		No	5 (6.3)
Methods	Study design	Yes	50 (63.3)
		No	23 (29.1)
		Incorrect*	6 (7.6)
	Setting	Yes	66 (83.5)
		No	13 (16.5)
	Participants eligibility	Yes	71 (89.9)
		No	8 (10.1)
	Data sources/ measurement	Yes	68 (86.1)
		No	11 (13.9)
	Sampling method	Yes	51 (64.6)
		No	28 (35.4)
	Study size calculation	Yes	2 (2.5)
		No	40 (50.6)
		Not applicable	37 (46.8)
	Statistical methods	Appropriate	53 (67.1)
		Inappropriate**	12 (15.2)
		No	14 (17.7)
Results	Participants flow	Yes	1 (1.3)
		No	0
		Not applicable	78 (98.7)
	Descriptive data	Yes	46 (58.2)
		No	33 (41.8)
	Other analyses	Yes	2 (2.5)
		No	77 (97.5)
Discussion	Key results	Yes	72 (91.1)
		No	7 (8.9)
	Limitations	Yes	11 (13.9)
		No	68 (86.1)
	Interpretation	Yes	68 (86.1)
		No	11 (13.9)
	Generalizability	Yes	12 (15.2)
		No	67 (84.8)
Other Information	Funding	Yes	21 (22.6)
		Not mentioned	63 (79.7)

* Inappropriateness of the reported study design with method section or ambiguous designs reported (e.g. descriptive-analytic study)

** Inappropriateness of the statistical tests with variables, not using the statistical tests reported in method section, or not reporting the p values