The text of these guidelines was published for general clinicians, general urologists, and patients, with the aim of providing a system of effective and efficient clinical practices for managing renal cell carcinoma based on evidence-based medicine-intended techniques. The guidelines contain the answers to a total of 21 clinical questions (CQ) that were formulated under the headings of 'risk factors and prophylaxis,''diagnosis,''surgical treatment and local treatment,' and 'systemic treatment,' along with the recommendation grades and systems/algorithms for clinical practice based on structured abstracts prepared through critical reviews of the relevant published reports; the literature search was conducted using the key words for each CQ. An abridged edition of these guidelines can be found on the web pages of the Japan Society of Clinical Oncology and the Medical Information Network Distribution Service.