ArticlePLoS medicine2016
Why Most Clinical Research Is Not Useful.
Article in PLoS medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 223 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
223 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Mapping global inequities in telemedicine implementation: An umbrella review of barriers and facilitators.PloS one · 2026Pooled it
- The application of fNIRS in studies on occupational workload: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Magnetic resonance imaging-based machine learning classification of schizophrenia spectrum disorders: a meta-analysis.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2024Pooled it
- Evaluation of research co-design in health: a systematic overview of reviews and development of a framework.Implementation science : IS · 2024Pooled it
- Use of pragmatic randomized trials in multiple sclerosis: A systematic overview.Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England) · 2024Pooled it
- [Extensions of guidelines for reporting types of study in medicine].Revista medica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social · 2022Pooled it
- Characterising the Features of 381 Clinical Studies Evaluating Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) for Pain Relief: A Secondary Analysis of the Meta-TENS Study to Improve Future Research.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Pooled it
- Drugs for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting in adults after general anaesthesia: a network meta-analysis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Low Reporting of Cointerventions in Recent Cardiovascular Clinical Trials: A Systematic Review.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2020Pooled it
- A systematic review of head-to-head trials of approved monoclonal antibodies used in cancer: an overview of the clinical trials agenda.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2019Pooled it
- The impact generated by publicly and charity-funded research in the United Kingdom: a systematic literature review.Health research policy and systems · 2019Pooled it
- Preventing maternal mental health disorders in the context of poverty: pilot efficacy of a dyadic intervention.American journal of obstetrics & gynecology MFM · 2020Trial
- Avoidable waste of research related to outcome planning and reporting in clinical trials.BMC medicine · 2018Trial
- Long-Term Prosthesis Survival After Total Hip Arthroplasty in Young Women with Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip: A Narrative Review of Instability, Revision Risk, and Reproductive Health Considerations.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Artificial Intelligence in the Diagnosis of Superficial Mycoses: A Scoping Review.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Evidence Drift and Causal Maturation Drift in Pediatric Health Research: A Dual-Drift Framework and Preliminary Appraisal Instruments for Inferential Fidelity.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Quantifying the inclusion of cardiovascular research into clinical guidelines.Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society · 2026Article
- Article
- [Primary care research: The science of proximity - How can we transform everyday practice into a driver of scientific progress?]Anales del sistema sanitario de Navarra · 2026Article
- Article
163 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
John Ioannidis argues that problem base, context placement, information gain, pragmatism, patient centeredness, value for money, feasibility, and transparency define useful clinical research. He suggests most clinical research is not useful and reform is overdue.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.