Objective  To analyze the current status of the development of adaptation guidelines in China, as well as their methodological quality and the reporting quality, in order to provide reference for the development of adaptation guidelines.

  Methods  We searched and collected adaptation guidelines led by Chinese researchers or institutions from 2015 to 2023 from four electronic databases, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang Data Knowledge Service Platform, SinoMed and PubMed, extracted the basic information of the adapted guidelines, and assessed their methodological quality and reporting quality using the Appraisal of Guidelines for REsearch and Evaluation (AGREE) Ⅱ and RIGHT-Ad@pt tools.

  Results  A total of 14 adaptation guidelines were included, mainly focusing on nursing (42.9%, 6/14), with the most frequently used adaptation method of ADAPTE (71.4%, 10/14), and with reference to pre-existing guidelines mainly from the United States, the United Kingdom, and international organizations. Assessment by the AGREE Ⅱ tool showed that the average methodological quality score of the adapted guidelines was 36.6%. The scores were relatively high in the domains of clarity of expression and rigor of formulation (44.4% and 54.9%), and lowest in the domain of applicability (15.3%). The results of the RIGHT-Ad@pt tool showed that the reporting quality of the adaptation guidelines was relatively good, with the highest reporting rate of 91.2% and the lowest of 35.3%, and the reporting rates of seven articles were higher than 70%.

  Conclusions  Adaptation guidelines in China are still in their infancy, with a relatively small number and mainly focusing on the nursing field. The most commonly used adaptation method is the ADAPTE method. The methodological quality and reporting quality of adaptation guidelines need to be further improved, and more research should be conducted on the specific conditions and timing of adaptation guidelines development.