MPIP publishes credibility gap recommendations – 3 May 2012

The Medical Publishing Insights and Practices Initiative (MPIP) has recently published ten recommendations for closing the credibility gap in reporting industry-sponsored clinical research. The recommendations have been drawn up following a meeting held in 2010, with 23 journal editors and industry representatives, where key elements of the credibility gap in industry-sponsored clinical research were defined and potential solutions proposed. The 10 recommendations encompass the ‘top 10’ opportunities for improvement identified by meeting attendees.

Recommendations to close the credibility gap

• Answer clinically important questions
• Report all results
• Improve COI disclosure
• Educate authors on manuscript development
• End ghost writing and guest authorship
• Improve adverse event reporting
• Provide access to protocols
• Report statistical methods transparently
• Ensure authors can access study data
• Support sharing of prior reviews

More detailed information, including the rationale for each of the 10 recommendations, is available from the MPIP website