External tools and campaigns

The links below are external to Cochrane, and so may contain content that does not reflect our views or official positions. If you have any questions or would like to suggest a further resource that may be useful for others, please contact Emma Thompson.

Clinical trial transparency

AllTrials
The AllTrials campaign calls for all past and present clinical trials to be registered and their results reported. It was founded in 2013 by Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science; Sense About Science; the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Oxford; the James Lind Initiative; the BMJ; and Cochrane.

• AllTrials statement – a detailed overview of the demands of the AllTrials campaign (available in English, Italian and Russian).
• AllTrials petition – a petition signed by thousands of healthcare professionals, researchers, companies, organizations, patients and members of the public calling for all clinical trials to be reported (available in 36 languages).
• AllTrials roadmap to clinical trial transparency – a document that outlines several concrete actions that each different stakeholder can take to contribute to the push for trial transparency (available in English and Spanish).

Trials Trackers
In association with AllTrials, the Evidence-Based Medicine DataLab at the University of Oxford has built trackers that monitor the trial reporting performance and policies of pharmaceutical companies, universities, funders, sponsors, and other organisations. These tools could provide useful background information for advocacy campaigns on trial transparency.

• EU Trials Tracker – monitors clinical trials that should, under EU rules, publish results on the European Union Clinical Trials Register within 12 months of completion.
• FDAAA Trials Tracker – monitors the publication of clinical trials covered by the FDAAA 2007 law, which requires findings of certain clinical trials are reported within 12 months of completion.

Clinical trials at European universities: mapping unreported drug trials (2019) – This joint report by Health Action International, TranspariMED, Test Aankoop and BUKO Pharma-Kampagne examines European universities’ reporting of clinical trials by university and country, and provides explanations as to why this is such an important issue. 

Clinical trials in the European Union: a roadmap to greater transparency (2019) – report by Health Action International and TranspariMED that discusses and makes policy recommendations in relation to transparency concerns related to the current EU trial registry, the forthcoming clinical trials portal and database, and barriers to the effective utilisation of clinical study reports (CSRs).

Research waste

EVBRES (EVidence-Based RESearch) – an initiative to encourage researchers and other stakeholders to use an evidence-based research approach while carrying out and supporting clinical research – thus avoiding redundancy. Several members of the Cochrane community are engaged.

The Lancet REWARD (REduce research Waste And Reward Diligence) campaign – a series of papers, resources and information on related initiatives aimed at understanding and reducing research waste. Cochrane is a campaign partner.

Ensuring Value in Research Funders’ Forum – a group of funders of health research from around the world that come together regularly and are collaborating to advance the practices of health-related research and research funding, in order to increase the value of research.

Research integrity

Commercial influence in health: from transparency to independence, BMJ (2019-2020) – a series of articles in the BMJ about the impacts of financial conflicts of interest across research, education, practice and policy, and about the global moves to freedom from commercial influence. The series includes an article by Cochrane’s Editor in Chief, Karla Soares-Weiser, about Cochrane’s conflict of interest policy. 

UK Research and Innovation research integrity report (2020) – a report by UK Research and Innovation that gives an overview of the incentives and pressures in the UK research system and their perceived impact on research integrity and researcher behaviour.

External news

• US Federal ruling closes loophole on access to clinical trial results 9 March 2020
• ‘Sharing research data and findings relevant to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak’: joint position statement led by Wellcome (and signed by Cochrane), 31 January 2020

These pages will be updated with new information and resources on an ongoing basis.
If you have developed resources or carried out advocacy work on this topic and would like to share it on these pages, please email Emma Thompson.