Decline of Randomised Controlled Trials in German Health Care Literature
Author Information
Author(s): Daniel Galandi, Guido Schwarzer, Gerd Antes
Primary Institution: German Cochrane Center, Department of Medical Biometry and Statistics, University Hospital Freiburg
Hypothesis
The study investigates the trends in the publication of randomised controlled trials in German-language health care journals from 1948 to 2004.
Conclusion
German language general health care journals no longer have a role in the dissemination of trial results.
Supporting Evidence
- 1618 trials were identified with a median total number of 43 patients per trial.
- The number of published trials was very low between 1948 and 1970 but increased significantly from 1970 to 1986.
- Between 1999 and 2001, only 0.8 RCTs per journal and year were published.
- More than 50% of the RCTs published between 2002 and 2004 were in English.
Takeaway
This study found that fewer and fewer medical trials are being published in German journals, and many researchers are now publishing in English instead.
Methodology
Eight German language general health care journals were manually searched for randomised controlled trials from 1948 to 2004.
Potential Biases
The study highlights potential language bias in the publication of trials.
Limitations
The study does not clarify whether the decline in published trials is due to fewer trials being conducted or more trials being published in English journals.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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