[Redefining the 'E' in EBM.]

Area of Science:

• Clinical research methodology
• Biomedical data integrity
• Publication bias analysis

Background:

• Accumulating evidence suggests journal publications of commercial clinical trials lack trustworthiness.
• Regulatory reports necessitate significant data and information selection for publication, introducing bias.
• This selective reporting distorts individual trial findings and impacts systematic reviews.

Discussion:

• The integrity of published clinical trial data is compromised by commercial interests.
• Selective data presentation in publications leads to biased interpretations and unreliable systematic reviews.
• Addressing this requires a shift towards more transparent and comprehensive data reporting.

Key Insights:

• Commercial clinical trial publications often exhibit unfathomable bias.
• Systematic reviews are vulnerable to distortions from biased trial reports.
• A radical selection of information is inherent in publishing regulatory reports as journal articles.

Outlook:

• Developing a comprehensive index of all prospective comparative studies is proposed.
• This approach aims to achieve a near-complete overview for enhanced reliability.
• While complex, this method promises greater completeness and trustworthiness in research synthesis.