title: Clinical research data sharing: what an open science world means for researchers involved in evidence synthesis.
abstract: The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recently announced a bold step forward to require data generated by interventional clinical trials that are published in its member journals to be responsibly shared with external investigators. The movement toward a clinical research culture that supports data sharing has important implications for the design, conduct, and reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. While data sharing is likely to enhance the science of evidence synthesis, facilitating the identification and inclusion of all relevant research, it will also pose key challenges, such as requiring broader search strategies and more thorough scrutiny of identified research. Furthermore, the adoption of data sharing initiatives by the clinical research community should challenge the community of researchers involved in evidence synthesis to follow suit, including the widespread adoption of systematic review registration, results reporting, and data sharing, to promote transparency and enhance the integrity of the research process.
authors.affiliation: Section of General Internal Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. joseph.ross@yale.edu.|Department of Health Policy and Management, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA. joseph.ross@yale.edu.|Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA. joseph.ross@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Joseph S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ross
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D035081:Editorial Policies; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D011642:Publications; D012108:Research Personnel
keywords: Clinical trials; Data sharing; Systematic reviews