Publishers aim to improve trial reporting

Publishers of clinical trial results are examining the way they work to try to tackle publication bias and poor access to data.

Following criticisms made by the Wellcome Trust to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s clinical trials inquiry last week, BioMed Central has told Research Fortnight that it is working to improve the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number Register that it administers.

All Wellcome-funded randomised controlled trials must be registered on the ISRCTN, but the trust’s head of policy, Nicola Perrin, told the inquiry on 22 April that “it’s not user-friendly by any means”, and that the trust is looking at whether it is still fit for purpose.