Assessing the Quality of Simulation-Based Research Articles: A Rating Rubric

• High-quality reports of simulation-based research studies are needed to guide practice.
• Existing research quality rating rubrics do not address simulation-based research.
• A rubric was developed to rate the quality of simulation-based research studies.
• The instrument has strong inter-rater reliability and evidence of content validity.

BackgroundThe poor quality of many published simulation-based research articles has been acknowledged in the literature. This article outlines the development of a quality rating rubric for simulation research articles.MethodA quality rating rubric was developed after literature review and collaboration with experts to ensure content validity. A content validity index was calculated. Inter-rater reliability was established.ResultsThe final rubric contains 16 elements, which are graded on a scale of 0-4. Content validity index of the instrument is 0.96. Inter-rater reliability is 0.92.ConclusionsThis instrument provides a reliable method for evaluating the quality of simulation-based research articles.