Final report

This section contains the following:

Introduction
Things to consider
Additional resources
Further reading

Introduction

Grantholders will often be expected to ensure that a final report and a financial statement will be completed and returned at the end of a grant or period of funding. The due submission date is often within a few months of the termination date of the grant. When writing the final report investigators should refer to the headings set out in the CONSORT checklist and contain a CONSORT flow chart which is intended to depict the flow of participants through a randomised control trial. The type of information requested may include:

Scientific achievements such as publications
The methodology used
Scientific advances made (and any consequent changes in objectives of the work)
Actual and potential impact on wealth, health and quality of life
Efforts taken to disseminate results

Things to consider

It is helpful to consider what is required for your final report at the protocol stage
An executive summary may be required and this should be a stand alone document covering all the key points of the report and should be written in simple language.

Additional resources

Guidance on what should be included in a final report

This is guidance to authors on what to include in a final report from the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) NHS R&D HTA Programme

The CONSORT Statement and a CONSORT flow chart

The CONSORT statement is an important research tool that takes an evidence-based approach to improve the quality of reports of randomized trials. The statement is available in six languages and has been endorsed by prominent medical journals such as The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Its critical value to researchers, health care providers, peer reviewers, and journal editors, and health policy makers is the guarantee of integrity in the reported results of research.

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Final report template

This final report template was developed by the Medical Research Council.