ArticleBMC medicine2020
Addressing challenges for clinical research responses to emerging epidemics and pandemics: a scoping review.
Article in BMC medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 3 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
32 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Ethical reporting and oversight in outbreak investigations conducted in India, 2015-2025: a systematic review.BMC medical ethics · 2026Pooled it
- Systematic Review of Scales for Measuring Infectious Disease-Related Stigma.Emerging infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Clinical characterization of Lassa fever: A systematic review of clinical reports and research to inform clinical trial design.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Pooled it
- Evaluation by simulation of clinical trial designs for evaluation of treatment during a viral haemorrhagic fever outbreak.BMC medical research methodology · 2021Trial
- Symptom variation up to two years post-SARS-CoV-2 infection in Children and Young People: results from the Children and young people with Long Covid (CLoCk) study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Building a case for accelerated clinical development of drugs and vaccines - what are the driving forces?Globalization and health · 2026Article
- A python's embrace? Insurance and the global clinical trial.Health research policy and systems · 2026Article
- Approval delays in multi-country COVID-19 trials: the case of COPCOV and the risk of therapeutic inertia.Trials · 2025Article
- Research ethics and integrity challenges in accelerated clinical trials, an interview study.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Recent advances in avian influenza virus: Molecular pathogenesis, emerging strains, and next-generation therapeutics.World journal of virology · 2025Review
- Evaluating a Research Training Program in Environmental Health and Noncommunicable Diseases in Georgia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- PEARLES challenges and solutions to the implementation of clinical research responses to epidemics and pandemics: a scoping review.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Review
- Exploring views of South African research ethics committees on pandemic preparedness and response during COVID-19.Research ethics · 2024Article
- Monocyte derived large extracellular vesicles in polytrauma.Journal of extracellular biology · 2024Article
- Translational success of fundamental virology: a VSV-vectored Ebola vaccine.Journal of virology · 2024Review
- "Just trying to adjust to the new reality that seems to be changing every hour": Lessons learned from nation-wide peer meetings on COVID-19 with rural disability service providers.Community development (Columbus, Ohio) · 2024Article
- Modeling Supply and Demand Dynamics of Vaccines against Epidemic-Prone Pathogens: Case Study of Ebola Virus Disease.Vaccines · 2023Article
- Children and Young People with Long COVID-Comparing Those Seen in Post-COVID Services with a Non-Hospitalised National Cohort: A Descriptive Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Key ethical issues encountered during COVID-19 research: a thematic analysis of perspectives from South African research ethics committees.BMC medical ethics · 2023Article
- Assessing healthcare capacity crisis preparedness: development of an evaluation tool by a Canadian health authority.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMajor infectious disease outbreaks are a constant threat to human health. Clinical research responses to outbreaks generate evidence to improve outcomes and outbreak control. Experiences from previous epidemics have identified multiple challenges to undertaking timely clinical research responses. This scoping review is a systematic appraisal of political, economic, administrative, regulatory, logistical, ethical and social (PEARLES) challenges to clinical research responses to emergency epidemics and solutions identified to address these.
methodsA scoping review. We searched six databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Global Health, PsycINFO, Scopus and Epistemonikos) for articles published from 2008 to July 2018. We included publications reporting PEARLES challenges to clinical research responses to emerging epidemics and pandemics and solutions identified to address these. Two reviewers screened articles for inclusion, extracted and analysed the data.
resultsOf 2678 articles screened, 76 were included. Most presented data relating to the 2014-2016 Ebola virus outbreak or the H1N1 outbreak in 2009. The articles related to clinical research responses in Africa (n = 37), Europe (n = 8), North America (n = 5), Latin America and the Caribbean (n = 3) and Asia (n = 1) and/or globally (n = 22). A wide range of solutions to PEARLES challenges was presented, including a need to strengthen global collaborations and coordination at all levels and develop pre-approved protocols and equitable frameworks, protocols and standards for emergencies. Clinical trial networks and expedited funding and approvals were some solutions implemented. National ownership and community engagement from the outset were a key enabler for delivery. Despite the wide range of recommended solutions, none had been formally evaluated.
conclusionsTo strengthen global preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic and future epidemics, identified solutions for rapid clinical research deployment, delivery, and dissemination must be implemented. Improvements are urgently needed to strengthen collaborations, funding mechanisms, global and national research capacity and capability, targeting regions vulnerable to epidemics and pandemics. Solutions need to be flexible to allow timely adaptations to context, and research led by governments of affected regions. Research communities globally need to evaluate their activities and incorporate lessons learnt to refine and rehearse collaborative outbreak response plans in between epidemics.
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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.