How is the compliance of the published studies on WHO5 recommendations for basic semen analysis?

Abstract

Sir, We read with great interest the article by Vasconcelos et al. (2022) in Human Reproduction regarding the compliance of the published studies on WHO5 recommendations for basic semen analysis. In this article, the authors retrospectively assessed whether the publications that mentioned a basic semen analysis, published in Human Reproduction and Fertility & Sterility between 2011 and 2020, gave sufficient evidence in their methodology to demonstrate that they followed the technical methods recommended in the WHO5 laboratory manual. The results showed that 70% of the papers included for analysis declared that they followed WHO5 recommendations. This article is of great clinical significance for solving the problem of basic semen analysis standardization, and beneficial to promote strict adherence to semen analysis methods to reduce technical errors. However, some concerns still need to be discussed. In this article, the literature selected for analysis by the authors were only those published in the two leading journals in the field of reproductive biomedicine, Human Reproduction and Fertility & Sterility. However, there may be a fact that many papers associated with male reproduction are published in other professional journals, such as World J Mens Health, WORLD J UROL, and Andrology etc. The relevant articles published in those classical journals should be also included for analysis, in order to verify a more accurate assessment on the detailed citation of WHO5 recommendations for basic semen analysis. In addition, generally, many journals have no mandatory requirements on describing the specific procedures of semen inspection. As a result, the majority of papers investigated disclosed the details about the manipulations on semen examination (as shown in Tables I–V in Vasconcelos et al.). If possible, the investigators may need to further determine the actual situation by inquiring with the authors who published the papers. As the declarations mentioned by Vasconcelos et al., we also hope there will be a standard requirement or writing format about describing the procedures of basic semen analysis in these professional journals.