ArticleBMJ open2022
How common is patient and public involvement (PPI)? Cross-sectional analysis of frequency of PPI reporting in health research papers and associations with methods, funding sources and other factors.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 4 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
50 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Facilitators of and barriers to patient and public involvement in mental health research within university settings: a systematic review and meta-synthesis.Psychological medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Patient and public involvement in HIV research: a mapping review and development of an online evidence map.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2024Pooled it
- Public involvement in Australian clinical trials: A systematic review.Clinical trials (London, England) · 2024Pooled it
- Participatory research with carers: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Pooled it
- Reflections on the role of Peer Researchers in eating disorders: identifying challenges, best practices, and future directions.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Questions for more insightful and useful analyses of barriers and facilitators to public involvement and engagement in health research: a critical narrative review.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Review
- 'You've Given Me My Voice'-Enhancing Engagement in Exercise Oncology Research: A Patient and Public Involvement Approach to Co‑Designing a Pre‑Radiotherapy Exercise Programme With People Living With Lung Cancer.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Trends in patient and public involvement in health research 2000-2024.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Review
- Exploring staff and students' understanding and experience of Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in an Irish University.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Community engagement and involvement in Sri Lanka: a knowledge mobilisation case study.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Article
- A critical reflective analysis of patient and public involvement in a programme of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction research.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Development of the RIPPLES framework for patient and public involvement in rapid evidence syntheses.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement in Clinical Trials: A Multi-Perspective Mixed-Methods Evaluation of the ROWTATE Programme.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Using Arts-Based Methods to Involve People Living in Tower Hamlets With Multiple Long-Term Conditions in the Development of Artificial Intelligence Tools in Healthcare Research.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Patient and public involvement (PPI) reporting in maternal and neonatal clinical trials: an exploratory review.Trials · 2026Review
- Benefits of public engagement in research and barriers to participation: a UK-based survey of academic scientists and support staff including international respondents.Immunology and cell biology · 2026Article
- Patient and public involvement, engagement, and participation in practice: co-production of a creative health approach and theory of change through the ReCITE consortium-building project in Liverpool.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- A rapid evaluation of the reporting and publishing practices of patient and public involvement and engagement in health research within a UK university institute.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Review
- Embedding public and patient involvement in childhood stuttering research: lessons learned from engaging children and families in Saudi Arabia.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesPatient and public involvement (PPI) in health research is required by some funders and publications but we know little about how common it is. In this study we estimated the frequency of PPI inclusion in health research papers and analysed how it varied in relation to research topics, methods, funding sources and geographical regions.
designCross-sectional.
methodsOur sample consisted of 3000 research papers published in 2020 in a general health-research journal (
results618 (20.6%) of the papers in our sample included PPI. The proportion of papers including PPI varied in relation to location (from 44.5% (95% CI 40.8% to 48.5%) in papers from the UK to 3.4% (95% CI 1.5% to 5.3%) in papers from China), method (from 38.6% (95% CI 27.1% to 50.1%) of mixed-methods papers to 5.3% (95% CI -1.9% to 12.5%) of simulation papers), topic (from 36.9% (95% CI 29.1% to 44.7%) of papers on mental health to 3.4% (95% CI -1.3% to 8.2%) of papers on medical education and training, and funding source (from 57.2% (95% CI 51.8% to 62.6%) in papers that received funding from the UK's National Institute for Health Research to 3.4% (95% CI 0.7% to 6.0%) in papers that received funding from a Chinese state funder).
conclusionsMost research papers in our sample did not include PPI and PPI inclusion varied widely in relation to location, methods, topic and funding source.
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.