BMJ  2005;331 (2 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7507.0-b

French ethics committees should tackle publication bias

Many research studies approved by French research ethics committees do not get completed or published. Decullier and colleagues (p 19) followed up 649 research protocols approved by 25 committees. Nine out of 10 approved studies were started, of which 86% were completed. Only 38% of the completed studies, however, were published. Moreover, studies with confirmatory results were almost five times more likely to be published than studies with inconclusive results. Authors suggest that ethics committees should prospectively and systematically follow up on the approved protocols, thus reducing the publication bias.

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Relevant Article

Fate of biomedical research protocols and publication bias in France: retrospective cohort study

Evelyne Decullier, Véronique Lhéritier, and François Chapuis
BMJ 2005 331: 19. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]