ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2025
Evolution of reported patient and public involvement over time in randomised controlled trials in major medical journals and in their protocols: meta-epidemiological evaluation.
Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evaluating Meaningful Patient and Public Involvement in Intensive Care Research-A PEIRS-22 Survey.Nursing in critical care · 2026Article
- Challenges and possibilities of public and patient involvement for early-career researchers: pedagogy, practice and data governance.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Benefits and challenges of a Patient & Public Involvement (PPI) peer researcher.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Trends in patient and public involvement in health research 2000-2024.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Review
- What added value does Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in oncology research bring to cancer patients and what are the challenges in realizing it? A mixed-methods cross-sectional study in four PPI groups in Flanders (Belgium).Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Patient and public involvement and engagement in Long COVID research: embedding inclusion in research.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Article
- A practical step-by-step approach for patient and public involvement in eHealth intervention research: Lessons learned from three case projects.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Review
- Giving credit where credit's due - recognition of patient partners in health research.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Methods of Engaging Interest-Holders in Healthcare Evidence Syntheses: A Scoping Review.Cochrane evidence synthesis and methods · 2026Review
- Co-production as the ultimate goal; an incentive or discouragement?Research involvement and engagement · 2025Article
- Recognition, remuneration and reimbursement of patient and public involvement partners in pragmatic randomised controlled trials. A survey of author practices.Research involvement and engagement · 2025Article
- Patient and Public Involvement in Paediatric Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trials: A Mixed Methods Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Comparison of 5-Day Multidaily Neuronavigated Theta-Burst Sessions With 6-Week Standard Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (the Dutch Depression Outcome Trial): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Evolution of reported patient and public involvement over time in randomised controlled trials in major medical journals and in their protocols: meta-epidemiological evaluation.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Article
- Patient and public involvement in clinical trials to improve outcomes for adults with multimorbidity in primary care and community settings: A systematic review protocol.Journal of multimorbidity and comorbidityArticle
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
objectiveTo investigate the reporting and evolution of patient and public involvement (PPI) in randomised controlled trials published over time in major medical journals and in their trial protocols.
designMeta-epidemiological evaluation. DATA SOURCE: PubMed was searched for articles reporting randomised controlled trials published since 2015 in four major medical journals and their corresponding peer reviewed protocols. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: The first 10 randomised controlled trials published each year in each journal were included. DATA EXTRACTION: Data extraction focused on involved stakeholders, description and extent of PPI activities/processes, and recognition of PPI contributions. Published articles and protocols were assessed for consistency of the reported PPI in both.
resultsOf the 360 published articles reporting randomised controlled trials and 299 respective protocols, PPI was only reported in 64 (18%) articles and 56 (19%) protocols. When PPI was reported, patients and their representatives were mainly involved, with the most common PPI activity being participation in trial committees (44/64 PPI reporting articles; 39/56 protocols). PPI primarily occurred during the trial development phase, including feedback on study design, review of study materials, and assessment of feasibility. Protocols occasionally had more detailed information than the published articles, but in most cases the PPI contributions were often vague without detailed information on specific outcomes and the effect on decision making within the randomised controlled trial. Recognition of PPI contributions was more frequent in published articles (n=37; 58%) than in protocols (n=18; 32%), mainly in the acknowledgment section.
conclusionThis study found limited PPI reported in randomised controlled trials published in major medical journals and in their respective protocols, underscoring the need for consistent, detailed, and transparent PPI reporting practices in clinical research. STUDY REGISTRATION: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/4EQG2.
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.