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LETTERS: James Penston Trial protocols: time for more than tinkering BMJ 2005; 330: 421-b [Full text]

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Some benefit surely.

Sue M Richards   (18 February 2005)

Some benefit surely. 18 February 2005
Sue M Richards, Senior research fellow CTSU, Oxford, OX2 6HE Send response to journal: Re: Some benefit surely.	Many wrong conclusions about the effects of treatments are due to misinterpretation and a lack of understanding rather than to deliberate fraud. This is surely where availability of the protocol will help in reviewing reported trial results. As with any scientific experiment, the most reliable way of ensuring the results are valid is for it to be reproducible by others, and perhaps this is the only way of being certain that the results of a particular trial are not deliberately manipulated. Competing interests: None declared