World-first framework for assessing research integrity in clinical guidelines, developed by Monash researchers, published in the prominent international medical journal, The Lancet's eClinical Medicine.
The number of retractions issued for scientific research articles in 2023 exceeded 10,000 - smashing annual records. To date, publishers have struggled to clean up a slew of papers with serious integrity concerns.
Now a world-first framework for assessing research integrity in clinical guidelines, has been published today in the prominent international medical journal, The Lancet's eClinical Medicine.
Monash University researchers in Australia, world leaders in National and International Clinical Guidelines have developed the Research Integrity in Guidelines and evIDence synthesis (RIGID) framework.
Clinical trials which lack integrity or present concerns over trustworthiness, can compromise patient care, both directly through unnecessary or harmful treatments, or indirectly through wasted resources and misdirected future medical research. "It is estimated that at least 25% of clinical trials informing clinical guidelines may not be trustworthy" according to RIGID co-lead author and research integrity expert, Professor Ben Mol.
In 2023 the RIGID framework was applied to the International Evidence-based Guidelines for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) in collaboration with 39 national and international societies and with input from 80 multidisciplinary experts, and consumers. The PCOS Guidelines have been downloaded over 35,000 times and the framework is now being applied in several other national and international guidelines.
According to first author, Dr Aya Mousa from Monash University, "integrity issues may arise unintentionally through honest error, incorrect analyses or naïve oversight due to inexperience, or intentionally through research misconduct," she said.
The RIGID framework and accompanying checklist uses a simple six-step approach to determine integrity risk, giving guideline developers, policy-makers, clinicians and scientists a roadmap to assess research integrity, and to exclude untrustworthy research during evidence synthesis and clinical guideline development.
