PLoS announces open access journal for all clinical trials, positive or negative

San Francisco, USA, October 18, 2005 - The Public Library of Science (PLoS) today announces PLoS Clinical Trials, an innovative new journal devoted to peer-reviewing and publishing reports of randomized clinical trials in all areas of healthcare (http://www.plosclinicaltrials.org).

The journal differs from other medical journals in one crucial respect. It will publish all trials that are ethically and scientifically sound and entered into an internationally accepted registry, regardless of the trial's size or whether the results are positive or negative. PLoS Clinical Trials is now accepting manuscripts in advance of its spring 2006 launch.

Around half of all completed trial reports are thought to go unpublished. These unpublished trial reports differ systematically from those that are published in the direction and strength of the findings, thus distorting the evidence base for decision-making in healthcare.

"Unpublished results undermine the trust between patients and investigators and slow the vast potential of medical progress," says Dr Christian Gluud of Copenhagen University Hospital, a member of the Advisory Board of PLoS Clinical Trials.

Traditional medical journals publish only the highest profile clinical trials (typically positive trials), partly because the journals must attract revenues from subscriptions and selling reprints. PLoS Clinical Trials avoids this problem--it doesn't have to sell subscriptions or reprints to be viable, so it can publish the broadest range of trials.

Citation: Veitch E, PLoS Medicine Editors (2005) Tackling publication bias in clinical trial reporting. PLoS Med 2(10): e367.

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020367

PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-02-10-veitch.pdf

CONTACT FOR PLoS CLINICAL TRIALS:
Emma Veitch, PhD
Publications Manager
Public Library of Science
7 Portugal Place
Cambridge CB5 8AF, UK
UK: 01223 463 343
eveitch@plos.org

PLoS Medicine Publishes Key Papers on Clinical Trial Reporting, Registries and Patient Advocacy

To mark the announcement, PLoS Medicine is publishing three articles that highlight important issues in clinical trial reporting:

Ida Sim of the University of California San Francisco and Don Detmer of the University of Virginia discuss the Global Trial Bank Project (http://globaltrialbank.org), which is partnering with PLoS Clinical Trials, and which will publish trial protocols and results in a computable format. With this format, say the authors, "scientists will be able to analyze data across trials to compare and contrast trials and to generate new findings and insights."

Karmela Krleža-Jeriæ of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research compares the clinical trial registries that have been proposed by the WHO, the pharmaceutical industry, and the Ottawa group (the group that has endorsed the Ottawa statement on trial registration, at http://ottawagroup.ohri.ca). Both the WHO's and industry's proposals are far less reaching than the Ottawa statement, says the author, and the different parties "need to find a compromise between proprietary interests and knowledge sharing."

Musa Mayer, breast cancer patient advocate, and author of three books on breast cancer, gives her view on why it is so crucial for patients that controlled clinical trials are performed and reported to the very highest standards.

Citation: Sim I, Detmer DE (2005) Beyond trial registration: A global trial bank for clinical trial reporting. PLoS Med 2(11): e365.

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020365

PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-02-11-sim.pdf

CONTACT
Ida Sim
sim@medicine.ucsf.edu

Citation: Krieža-Jeriæ K (2005) Clinical trial registration: The differing views of industry, the WHO, and the Ottawa Group. PLoS Med 2(11): e378.

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020378

PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-02-11-kriezajeric.pdf

CONTACT: Karmela Krleža-Jeriæ
kkrleza-jeric@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Citation: Mayer M (2005) When clinical trials are compromised: A perspective from a patient advocate. PLoS Med 2(11): e358.

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020358

PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-02-11-mayer.pdf

CONTACT: Musa Mayer
musa@echonyc.com

PLEASE MENTION THE OPEN-ACCESS JOURNAL PLoS MEDICINE (www.plosmedicine.org) AS THE SOURCE FOR THESE ARTICLES AND PROVIDE A LINK TO THE FREELY-AVAILABLE TEXT. THANK YOU.

About PLoS
PLoS was founded in 2002 by Harold Varmus, Patrick Brown, and Michael Eisen as a not-for-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. Through its journals, quality peer-reviewed research is instantly and freely available. PLoS launched its first two journals-- PLoS Biology (2003) and PLoS Medicine (2004)--as alternatives to the top-tier subscription-based biology and medicine journals.

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