Objective: To assess whether there is evidence that randomized controlled trials are
systematically beneficial, or harmful, for patients. In other words, is there a “trial effect”? If so, to …

In most randomised controlled trials, individual patients are randomised to a treatment or
control group, but sometimes this is undesirable or even impossible and groups (clusters) of …

NHS libraries can subscribe free of charge. Public libraries can subscribe at a very reduced
cost of£ 100 for each volume (normally comprising 30–40 titles). The commercial …

Methods To find out what patients, the general public, and healthcare professionals thought
about trials, we undertook a review of the ethics of randomised controlled trials from these …

SARS-CoV-2 has a zoonotic origin and was transmitted to humans via an undetermined
intermediate host, leading to infections in humans and other mammals. To enter host cells, the …

Objective: To review the literature on comparisons between different methods of obtaining
informed consent for clinical trials. Design: Eight hundred and twelve articles were traced, in …

In this paper the authors argue that research ethics committees (RECs) should not be
paternalistic by rejecting research that poses risk to people competent to decide for themselves. …

Most ethics committees which review research protocols insist that potential research
participants reserve unconditional or absolute ‘right’ of withdrawal at any time and without giving …

Methods To find out how discussion sections are currently structured, we did an informal survey
of original papers (excluding short reports) published in the BMJ from March to May 1999…

… Why “underpowered” trials are not necessarily unethical—In this viewpoint by SJL Edwards
and colleagues (Sept 13, pp 804–07), the seventh sentence of the “Ethical argument” (p 806…