SynthesisPloS one2022
The effectiveness of incentives for research participation: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 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
78 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A Health-Related Digital Ecological Momentary Assessment in Children (Aged 5- 11 Years): Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Recommendations to promote equity, diversity and inclusion in decentralized clinical trials.Nature medicine · 2024Guideline
- Pooled it
- The Effectiveness and Mechanisms of Action of App-Based Interventions for Improving Mental Health and Workplace Well-Being: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mental health · 2026Trial
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- The influence of identity-oriented psychotrauma therapy on Hashimoto disease activity: a randomised controlled trial.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Trial
- Self-reported acceptability and feasibility of a multimodal intervention to reduce antibiotic prescriptions for urinary tract infections in primary care: a process evaluation of the RedAres trial among general practitioners and medical practice assistants.BMC health services research · 2025Trial
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- STOPTHEBURN: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Death Cafés for Burnout Prevention in Intensive Care Unit Employees.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2024Trial
- Randomised controlled trial of breast cancer and multiple disease prevention weight loss programmes vs written advice amongst women attending a breast cancer family history clinic.British journal of cancer · 2023Trial
- Effectiveness of a family-oriented intervention for children of mentally ill parents on children's mental health and health-related quality of life: a prospective, rater-blinded, cluster-randomized controlled multicenter trial.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
- Enhancing Recruitment in Urinary Incontinence Care: Insights from the EvidenceNOW Managing Urinary Incontinence Initiative.International urogynecology journal · 2026Article
- Missing Data in Trial-Based Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: The Journey Continues.PharmacoEconomics · 2026Review
- Article
- Drivers of Research Participation Among Racially and Ethnically Underrepresented Women: Insights from Semi-Structured Interviews.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Digital Health Monitoring and Intervention Suite for Stress in Frontline Nurses: Prospective Cohort Trial.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Unique Digital Images as Incentives in Clinical Trials: A Digital Shift Toward Meaningful Participation.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
18 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
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecruitment plays a vital role in conducting randomized control trials (RCTs). Challenges and failure of proper recruitment lead to early termination of trials. Monetary incentives have been suggested as a potential solution to these challenges. Therefore, we aimed to do a systematic review and analysis to evaluate the effect of incentives on the number of participants willing to consent to and participate in RCTs.
methodsElectronic databases were systematically searched from inception to September 23rd, 2021, using the following keywords: payments, incentive, response, participation, enrollment, randomized, randomization, and RCT. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used to assess the quality of the included trials. Risk ratios (RRs) were calculated with their corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). All analyses were done with the random-effects model. We used Revman software to perform the analysis.
resultsSix RCTs with 6,253 Participants met the inclusion criteria. Our analysis showed significant improvement in response rate (RR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.55; P = 0.02) and consent rates (RR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.85; P = 0.006) when an incentive payment was offered to participants. Even a small amount of incentive showed significant improvement in both consent (RR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.73; P = 0.03) and response rates (RR: 1.26; 95% CI: 1.08, 1.47; P = 0.004).
conclusionIn conclusion, our meta-analysis demonstrated statistically significant increases in the rate of consent and responses from participants when offered even small monetary value incentives. These findings suggest that incentives may be used to reduce the rate of recruitment failure and subsequent study termination. However, further RCTs are needed to establish a critical threshold beyond which incentive amount does not alter response rates further and the types of RCTs in which financial incentives are likely to be effective.
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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.