Background: Healthcare systems aim to provide those health services which have shown to be effective and safe according to the available scientific knowledge. In order to assess quality of care, we need valid and reliable measuring instruments, such as quality indicators. A quality indicator has been defined as a screening tool to identify potential suboptimal clinical care. To ensure the validity of quality indicators, they should be evidence-based. We present here a pilot study in obstetric care. Objectives: Our aim was to develop a set of obstetric quality indicators to assess the compliance of provided care to the best current scientific evidence. Methods: We followed a systematic five-step process to develop indicators: 1. bibliographic search to identify high quality systematic reviews; 2. selection of high methodological quality systematic reviews with strong recommendations to practice, using the GRADE system; 3. elaboration of the quality indicators; 4. consultation of the authors of the selected systematic reviews to provide feedback about the validity of indicators; 5. incorporation of received comments. A multicenter pilot study to test the indicators in real practice is in process, which will permit to refine the final proposal. Results: Eighty-six percent of the authors responded to our request. Finally, we included 23 systematic reviews, which generated a set of 22 indicators. All of them are process and rate-based indicators. Conclusions: We have developed a set of 22 evidence-based quality indicators of obstetric care.