Integrity of Randomized Clinical Trials : How to Prevent Research Misconduct and Ensure Transparency

Today, scientists are expected to be more accountable and transparent than at any other time in history. Globally, the pursuit of knowledge creation enjoys a place of distinction, and the public expects to reap considerable benefits from the innovative contributions made by researchers. It is, therefore, more important than ever that ethics, transparency, and professionalism explicitly guide research integrity.

Despite the clear importance of acquiring a fundamental understanding of clinical trials in the context of health research and innovation, medical training generally fails to cover clinical trial integrity in its curriculum, including it neither at the undergraduate nor at the postgraduate levels. This new book provides a curriculum to address this gap, offering best practice guidelines to improve the quality, openness, and trustworthiness of clinical trials and filling a current void in the market.

Key Features:

• The first book on clinical trial integrity
• Provides clear guidance on how to ensure probity in peer review, appraisal of trials, and investigation of complaints concerning misconduct in clinical trials
• Trains and supports researchers globally on how to undertake trials with integrity
• Ensures that the increasing demand for public documentation of all aspects throughout the lifecycle of a clinical trial can be met

This book is essential reading for master and doctoral students undertaking courses in clinical trials, epidemiology, and medical statistics and an invaluable reference for medical journal editors and peer reviewers, clinicians who recruit patients into trials, pharmaceutical industry professionals, patient and public representatives who engage in clinical trials, systematic reviewers, guideline writers, and funders and regulators of clinical trials.

Khalid S. Khan is Beatriz Galindo Distinguished Investigator at the University of Granada, Spain, and has been Sims Black Fellow of the UK Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Spinoza Professor at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Fellow of the Pakistani College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.