An educational intervention to improve prospective study registration and result reporting of trials in Canadian academic institutions

Best research practices and honest reporting are cornerstones of science. Society assumes that research is performed carefully and reported openly. But there are unseen threats to science—85% of the investment in biomedical research is avoidably wasted due to poor conduct and reporting of research results. When we rely on science to inform decisions about patient care and health policy, society must strive for reliability in science. 

Only 3 out of every 100 clinical trials conducted in Canada between 2009 and 2019 provided enough information for researchers, clinicians, patients and policymakers to decide whether the research is meaningful and worth implementing in practice. 

I will lead a project to develop and evaluate an online training programme that aims to teach researchers how to maintain an accurate public record of their research—from its beginning all the way through to sharing the results with the scientific community and the public. The training program will roll out across at least 12 universities (out of 16) in British Columbia and culminate in testing how well researchers and institutions in British Columbia register and report the results of their research.