High impact journal publishing: the devil is in the detail!

Research in medicine is an indispensable tool to advance knowledge and improve patient care. This might be particularly true in the field of human reproduction as it is a relatively new field and treatment options are rapidly evolving.The cornerstone of evidence-based knowledge, leading to evidence-based treatment decisions, is randomized controlled trials as they explore the benefits of new treatment approaches. The study design and performance are crucial and if done correctly, solid conclusions can be drawn and be implemented into daily clinical routines.Dissemination of new findings throughout the scientific community occurs in the form of publications in scientific journals, and the importance of the journal is reflected in part by the impact factor. The peer review process prior to publication is fundamental in the prevention of flaws in the study design. Thus, readers of journals with a high impact factor usually rely on a thorough peer review process and therefore might not question the published data. However, even papers published in high impact journals might not be free of flaws, so the aim of this paper is to encourage readers to be aware of this fact and critically read scientific papers as “the devil lies in the details”.