Questionnaire survey for the development and publication of cancer clinical practice guidelines in Japan

Purpose: To understand the current situation of the development and publication of cancer clinical practice guidelines and discuss an ideal structure in future.

Methods: A questionnaire survey pertaining to the development and publication of cancer clinical practice guidelines was conducted with funding by a Health and Labour Sciences Research Grant. Respondents included presidents and chairpersons of academic societies developing guidelines and members of the Cancer Guidelines Committee of the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology who were specialists in various cancer sites.

Results: Concerning the question of funding for the development and publication of the guidelines, 80.7 % of respondents indicated that partial public funding is required. As for the flow of public funds, 80.4 % of respondents thought that funds should be distributed appropriately to each academic society by a third-party organization. Regarding the question about the publication of the guidelines, 82.5 % of respondents replied that a comprehensive publication site needs to be established. In terms of the choice of organization that would be responsible for setting up and managing this site, the responses varied as follows: “a newly established organization” (38.3 %); “Center for Cancer Control and Information Services” (29.8 %); “Japan Society of Clinical Oncology” (23.4 %); and “Medical Information Network Distribution Service” (23.4 %) (multiple answers allowed).

Conclusion: While the guidelines should be developed voluntarily by each academic society, partial public funding is also considered to be necessary for maintaining the continuous revision process. As for the publication of the guidelines, the establishment of a new comprehensive publication site would improve user convenience.