ArticlePLoS medicine2025
Raising the bar for causal inference: PLOS Medicine adopts the TARGET guidelines for target trial emulation studies.
Article in PLoS medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 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
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- The TARGET guideline for reporting observational studies of interventions.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Requiring code sharing to strengthen transparency and trust in research.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP-1 RAs, and DPP4 inhibitors and the risk of hypomagnesemia in type 2 diabetes: A target trial emulation.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Evaluating the effectiveness and safety of Xiyanping injection for severe pneumonia: a target trial emulation protocol using real-world data.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Identifying and avoiding design related biases in observational studies using the target trial framework.BMJ medicine · 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
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The TARGET guidelines aim to improve transparency and consistency in reporting of observational studies that emulate target trials. In alignment with these goals, PLOS Medicine fully endorses the TARGET guidelines and now asks that new submissions of target trial emulation studies adhere to them.
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.