The reporting standards of randomised controlled trials in leading medical journals between 2019 and 2020: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard study design used to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of healthcare interventions. The reporting quality of RCTs is of fundamental importance for readers to appropriately analyse and understand the design and results of studies which are often labelled as practice changing papers. The aim of this article is to assess the reporting standards of a representative sample of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2019 and 2020 in four of the highest impact factor general medical journals. A systematic review of the electronic database Medline was conducted. Eligible RCTs included those published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Journal of the American Medical Association, and British Medical Journal bet

SUBMITTER: McErlean M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8890950 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature