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05-03-2005, 03:30 PM
As part of its ongoing endeavours to improve the reporting of medical science, BioMed Central now requires authors of randomised controlled trials to register their trial in a publicly accessible registry before submitting their manuscript.
We believe that this will help to reduce “selective reporting” of trials. Traditionally, trials are more likely to be published if they show that a new treatment has a large effect, or if two approaches are equivalent; trials are less likely to be published if the new treatment is shown to be inferior, or if they are inconclusive. This selective reporting leads to “selective awareness”, making it impossible for researchers to be aware of the full body of evidence needed for clinical decision-making.
To combat this, BioMed Central will now only consider protocols or reports of randomised controlled trials if they are registered in a publicly accessible trial registry. The trial number must also be included in the title of the manuscript. We plan to make this part of our manuscript submission system by 1st June 2005, but the policy is in force as of now.
One such registry is the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) Register, which registers a trial and assigns an ISRCTN. An ISRCTN can be obtained by completing the online application form.
We believe that this will help to reduce “selective reporting” of trials. Traditionally, trials are more likely to be published if they show that a new treatment has a large effect, or if two approaches are equivalent; trials are less likely to be published if the new treatment is shown to be inferior, or if they are inconclusive. This selective reporting leads to “selective awareness”, making it impossible for researchers to be aware of the full body of evidence needed for clinical decision-making.
To combat this, BioMed Central will now only consider protocols or reports of randomised controlled trials if they are registered in a publicly accessible trial registry. The trial number must also be included in the title of the manuscript. We plan to make this part of our manuscript submission system by 1st June 2005, but the policy is in force as of now.
One such registry is the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) Register, which registers a trial and assigns an ISRCTN. An ISRCTN can be obtained by completing the online application form.