Endorsement of non-ERS documents

About this process

Other international scientific societies which develop clinical practice guidelines, statements and technical standards may contact ERS should they want to receive a formal endorsement of one of their documents. Preferably, ERS should be involved from the beginning so that there is an opportunity to contribute to the manuscript. If this is not possible, then ERS may be contacted for endorsement of the completed document, provided that the rules and criteria, outlined below, are met.

Note that endorsed manuscripts are not considered as official ERS documents as they are not ERS led and they do not follow the ERS selection and development processes, rules and standards. As a result, the ERS name cannot appear in the title of the document (e.g., ERS Clinical Practice Guidelines on ….) but endorsement can be acknowledged in the publication. 

Required endorsement criteria:

• The document is developed by an international scientific society and the request is made by that society. 

• The topic is an area of interest for ERS. 

• ERS does not endorse other types of document than clinical practice guidelines, statements and technical standards. There are no similar recently published ERS documents. Check all published guidelines here. 

• There are no similar ERS documents under preparation. Check documents under preparation by ERS task forces,

• Panel members’ potential Conflict of Interests (COI) have been disclosed and managed. 

• The methodology used is approved by ERS methodologists  and the following minimum criteria are met:  

Clinical practice guidelines:

• Systematic, documented searches. 
• Summary of evidence. 
• Risk of bias assessment. 
• GRADEing of evidence. 
• Description of the process for reaching the described recommendations. 

Statements and technical standards:

• Systematic searches. 
• Description of the process followed for choosing the included studies. 
• No recommendations for clinical practice. 

Preferable criteria:

• There is a significant representation of ERS members in the list of authors or contributors. 

• The proposal comes from a society of a similar kind and/or relevance to ERS. If the document fulfils the criteria, a scientific reviewing process will take place. The document will then be presented to the ERS Science Council and Executive Committee. The full decision process lasts between 4 and 6 weeks. 

Apply for endorsement

If you would like your document be considered for endorsement by ERS, you can fill out this form.