BMJ· 2026Q1
INSPECT-SR tool for assessing trustworthiness of randomised controlled trials
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
The INSPECT-SR tool has been developed to identify and exclude problematic randomised controlled trials (RCTs) from systematic reviews, thereby protecting evidence synthesis integrity.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Problematic RCTs can compromise the integrity of evidence synthesis.
- The INSPECT-SR tool is designed to assess the trustworthiness of RCTs.
- This tool helps researchers identify and exclude problematic trials from systematic reviews.
- The development of INSPECT-SR and its guidance document are described.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
The integrity of evidence synthesis is threatened by problematic randomised controlled trials, where there are serious concerns about the trustworthiness of the data or findings. Such concerns could be due to research misconduct, including fraud, or due to honest critical errors. If these trials are not detected, they may be inadvertently included in systematic reviews and guidelines, potentially distorting their results. To resolve this problem, the INSPECT-SR (Investigating Problematic Clinical Trials in Systematic Reviews) tool has been developed to assess the trustworthiness of randomised controlled trials. This tool will help researchers to identify and exclude problematic trials from systematic reviews. This article describes the development of INSPECT-SR and presents the tool and an associated guidance document.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. BMJ, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Statistics, Probability and UncertaintyDecision Sciences