title: Increasing value and reducing waste in biomedical research: who's listening?
abstract: The biomedical research complex has been estimated to consume almost a quarter of a trillion US dollars every year. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that a high proportion of this sum is avoidably wasted. In 2014, The Lancet published a series of five reviews showing how dividends from the investment in research might be increased from the relevance and priorities of the questions being asked, to how the research is designed, conducted, and reported. 17 recommendations were addressed to five main stakeholders-funders, regulators, journals, academic institutions, and researchers. This Review provides some initial observations on the possible effects of the Series, which seems to have provoked several important discussions and is on the agendas of several key players. Some examples of individual initiatives show ways to reduce waste and increase value in biomedical research. This momentum will probably move strongly across stakeholder groups, if collaborative relationships evolve between key players; further important work is needed to increase research value. A forthcoming meeting in Edinburgh, UK, will provide an initial forum within which to foster the collaboration needed.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada; School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, ON, Ottawa, Canada. Electronic address: dmoher@ohri.ca.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moher
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Evidence Based Practice, Bond University, Robina, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Glasziou
authors.affiliation: James Lind Initiative, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Iain
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chalmers
authors.affiliation: Peninsula Dental School, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nasser
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Patrick M M
authors.initials: PMM
authors.lastname: Bossuyt
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Daniël A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Korevaar
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada; School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, ON, Ottawa, Canada.
authors.forename: Ian D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.affiliation: METHODS Team, Centre of Research in Epidemiology and Statistics Sorbonne Paris Cité, UMR 1153, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, University Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ravaud
authors.affiliation: METHODS Team, Centre of Research in Epidemiology and Statistics Sorbonne Paris Cité, UMR 1153, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, University Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Boutron
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000592:standards*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*; D012108:Research Personnel