title: Clinical trial registration in oral health journals.
abstract: Prospective registration of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) represents the best solution to reporting bias. The extent to which oral health journals have endorsed and complied with RCT registration is unknown. We identified journals publishing RCTs in dentistry, oral surgery, and medicine in the Journal Citation Reports. We classified journals into 3 groups: journals requiring or recommending trial registration, journals referring indirectly to registration, and journals providing no reference to registration. For the 5 journals with the highest 2012 impact factors in each group, we assessed whether RCTs with results published in 2013 had been registered. Of 78 journals examined, 32 (41%) required or recommended trial registration, 19 (24%) referred indirectly to registration, and 27 (35%) provided no reference to registration. We identified 317 RCTs with results published in the 15 selected journals in 2013. Overall, 73 (23%) were registered in a trial registry. Among those, 91% were registered retrospectively and 32% did not report trial registration in the published article. The proportion of trials registered was not significantly associated with editorial policies: 29% with results in journals that required or recommended registration, 15% in those that referred indirectly to registration, and 21% in those providing no reference to registration (P = 0.05). Less than one-quarter of RCTs with results published in a sample of oral health journals were registered with a public registry. Improvements are needed with respect to how journals inform and require their authors to register their trials.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U1138, Equipe 22, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Paris, France Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Bretonneau, Service d'Odontologie, Paris, France Université Paris Descartes-Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, Unité de Recherches Biomatériaux Innovants et Interface EA4462, Montrouge, France violaine.smail-faugeron@parisdescartes.fr.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Smaïl-Faugeron
authors.affiliation: Université Paris Descartes-Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, Unité de Recherches Biomatériaux Innovants et Interface EA4462, Montrouge, France Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Charles Foix, Service d'Odontologie, Ivry-sur-Seine, France.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fron-Chabouis
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U1138, Equipe 22, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Paris, France Université Paris Descartes-Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de Médecine, Paris, France Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Département d'Informatique Hospitalière, Paris, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Durieux
mesh_terms: D018865:Dental Research / Q000592:standards; D003813:Dentistry; D035081:Editorial Policies; D006801:Humans; D055811:Journal Impact Factor; D019242:Oral Medicine; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D017594:Publication Bias; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000145:classification / Q000592:standards*; D012042:Registries; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D013515:Surgery, Oral
keywords: clinical trials as topic; editorial policies; publication bias; randomized controlled trial; registries; split-mouth trial