TRIPS-Systematic Approach for Creating an Effective Title: Narrative Review

Introduction/Background: The title is a unique element in academic writing that summarises the research questions, answers, achievements, and conclusions found in research papers, dissertations, and conference papers. The lack of a systematic approach in title drafting prompted the authors to introduce a new checklist/criterion named TRIPS. The outcome of our article carries significant implications for young researchers and early-career academic writers. Aims/Objective: In this narrative view, we introduced the TRIPS framework which stands for Topic, Results, Intervention, Population, and Study Design. Emphasising the significance of adhering to TRIPS while drafting a research title is the subject of this narrative review. Patients and Methods: 25 randomly selected study titles of clinical trials, randomised control trials (RCTs), original publications, observational studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses from PubMed were analysed using the TRIPS framework, and results were summarised. These were evaluated by two readers—one musculoskeletal radiologist and one orthopaedic surgeon. Results: When the TRIPS framework was applied to 25 research study titles, we found that just 32% of the studies met this condition. T (topic) was stated in the titles of all the research, whereas R (results) and S (study design) were cited in 56% of the studies, and P (population) and I (intervention and comparators) in 92% of the studies. There was an excellent correlation between readers (intra and inter-reader) with a kappa of 0.9. Conclusion: We suggest that by following the TRIPS strategic approach, authors can make their research titles clear, concise, comprehensible, and in line with all the necessary components.