Bibliometric and content analysis of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field specialized register of controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: The identification of eligible controlled trials for systematic reviews of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) interventions can be difficult. To increase access to these difficult to locate trials, the Cochrane Collaboration Complementary Medicine Field (CAM Field) has established a specialized register of citations of CAM controlled trials. The objective of this study is to describe the sources and characteristics of citations included in the CAM Field specialized register. METHODS: Between 2006 and 2011, regular searches for citations of CAM trials in MEDLINE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were supplemented with contributions of controlled trial citations from international collaborators. The specialized register was 'frozen' for analysis in 2011, and frequencies were calculated for publication date, language, journal, presence in MEDLINE, type of intervention, and type of medical condition. RESULTS: The CAM Field specialized register increased in size from under 5,000 controlled trial citations in 2006 to 44,840 citations in 2011. Most citations (60%) were from 2000 or later, and the majority (71%) were reported in English; the next most common language was Chinese (23%). The journals with the greatest number of citations were CAM journals published in Chinese and non-CAM nutrition journals published in English. More than one-third of register citations (36%) were not indexed in MEDLINE. The most common CAM intervention type in the register was non-vitamin, non-mineral dietary supplements (e.g., glucosamine, fish oil) (34%), followed by Chinese herbal medicines (e.g., Astragalus membranaceus, Schisandra chinensis) (27%). CONCLUSIONS: The availability of the CAM Field specialized register presents both opportunities and challenges for CAM systematic reviewers. While the register provides access to thousands of difficult to locate trial citations, many of these trials are of low quality and may overestimate treatment effects. When including these trials in systematic reviews, adequate analysis of their risk of bias is of utmost importance.

Reporting of methods was better in the Clinical Trials Registry-India than in Indian journal publications.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate if editorial policies and the reporting quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) had improved since our 2004-05 survey of 151 RCTs in 65 Indian journals, and to compare reporting quality of protocols in the Clinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: An observational study of endorsement of Consolidated Standards for the Reporting of Trials (CONSORT) and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) requirements in the instructions to authors in Indian journals, and compliance with selected requirements in all RCTs published during 2007-08 vs. our previous survey and between all RCT protocols in the CTRI on August 31, 2010 and published RCTs from both surveys. RESULTS: Journal policies endorsing the CONSORT statement (22/67, 33%) and ICMJE requirements (35/67, 52%) remained suboptimal, and only 4 of 13 CONSORT items were reported in more than 50% of the 145 RCTs assessed. Reporting of ethical issues had improved significantly, and that of methods addressing internal validity had not improved. Adequate methods were reported significantly more frequently in 768 protocols in the CTRI, than in the 296 published trials. CONCLUSION: The CTRI template facilitates the reporting of valid methods in registered trial protocols. The suboptimal compliance with CONSORT and ICMJE requirements in RCTs published in Indian journals reduces credibility in the reliability of their results.

Editorial policy and the reporting of randomized controlled trials: a survey of instructions for authors and assessment of trial reports in Indian medical journals (2004-05).

BACKGROUND: Many international journals require authors of randomized controlled trials to adhere to standards of reporting described in the statement of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) and the requirements issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). We examined the extent to which these international standards have been adopted by Indian medical journals. METHODS: To identify Indian medical journals that publish randomized controlled trials, we did electronic searches of the websites of the National Informatics Centre (Indian Medlars Centre), Database of Open Access Journals, National Library of Medicine, WHO's Index Medicus for the South-East Asian region and Google. We analysed their instructions to authors for endorsement of the CONSORT statement and the ICMJE requirements for reporting of randomized controlled trials. We then identified all randomized controlled trials published in these journals during 2004 and 2005 and assessed them against selected CONSORT items and ICMJE requirements, and scored them on the Jadad scale. RESULTS: Of the 65 journals selected, 38 (58.5%) mentioned the ICMJE requirements in their instructions for authors but only 20 (31%) specifically required authors to submit manuscripts in accordance with the CONSORT statement. Of 151 randomized controlled trials published during 2004-05, only 4 of 13 (30.8%) selected CONSORT items were reported in > 50% of trial reports. Items reflecting internal validity were poorly reported. Jadad scores were significantly higher for general medical journals compared with specialty journals (mean difference 0.46; 95% CI: 0.15-0.78; p = 0.005) and in trials published in 2005 over those published in 2004 (mean difference 0.48; 95% CI: 0.18-0.79; p = 0.002). Ethical issues were poorly reported in one-third of reports, and sources of funding and conflicts of interest were not declared in over three-fourths. Adequacy of reporting was not related to endorsing either the CONSORT statement or the ICMJE requirements. CONCLUSION: Medical journals published in India should adopt internationally recognized norms for reporting clinical trials and work with authors, reviewers and institutional review boards to improve the standards of conduct, reporting and validity of inferences of trials.