The 2009 Lancet paper on adding value and reducing waste in research has documented that much research is wasted because its outcomes cannot be used [1]. The waste occurs during 5 stages of research production: question selection, study design, research conduct, publication, and reporting [2,3]. For each of design, publication, and reporting there is a "loss" of around 50%, which implies a total waste of at least 85%. This translates into an estimated global loss of around $170 billion per year. Much of this waste appears to be avoidable or remediable, but there is little recognition of the need to develop and implement the needed remedies.
The Cochrane-REWARD prize will highlight both underused "remedies" and the need to invest in research to identify problems and solutions to them.
- More information on the prize and how to submit a nomination.
- Read about the previous winners of the Cochrane-REWARD prize.
- Chalmers I, Glasziou P. Avoidable waste in the production and reporting of research evidence. Lancet. 2009 Jul 4;374(9683):86-9.
- Macleod MR, Michie S, Roberts I, et al. Biomedical research: increasing value, reducing waste. Lancet. 2014 Jan 11;383(9912):101-4.
- Glasziou P, Altman DG, Bossuyt P, et al. Reducing waste from incomplete or unusable reports of biomedical research. Lancet. 2014 Jan 18;383(9913):267-76.
- Glasziou P, Sanders S and Hoffmann T. Waste in covid-19 research BMJ. 2020 May 12;369:m1847.
