FOOT & ANKLE INTERNATIONAL Copyright 2012 by the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society DOI: 10.3113/FAI.2012.0001 Quality of Research and Level of Evidence in Foot and Ankle Publications

Background: The quality of research and evidence to support medical treatments is under scrutiny from the medical profes-sion and the public. This study examined the current quality of research and level of evidence (LOE) of foot and ankle surgery papers published in orthopedic and podiatric medical journals. Methods: Two independent evaluators performed a blinded assessment of all foot and ankle clinical research arti-cles (January 2010 to June 2010) from seven North American orthopedic and podiatric journals. JBJS-A grading system was used for LOE. Articles were assessed for indicators of study quality. The data was stratified by journal and medical creden-tials. Results: A total of 245 articles were published, 128 were excluded based on study design, leaving 117 clinical research articles. Seven (6%) were Level I, 14 (12%) Level II, 18 (15%