Reporting the findings of clinical trials: a discussion paper

Overview

When researchers embark on a clinical trial, they make a commitment to con-duct the trial and to report the findings in accordance with basic ethical prin-ciples. This includes preserving the ac-curacy of the results and making both positive and negative results publicly available.1 However, a significant pro-portion of health-care research remains unpublished and, even when it is pub-lished, some researchers do not make all of their results available.2 Selective reporting, regardless of the reason for it, leads to an incomplete and potentially biased view of a trial and its results.