Building an international register of ongoing systematic reviews: have your say

In response to growing concern about reporting biases, and advocacy for registration of systematic reviews, the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) is leading an initiative to establish an international register of ongoing systematic reviews.

The register will be free of charge and will work in a similar way to clinical trials registers allowing researchers to prospectively record key features of their systematic reviews. Fuller details about the project have just been published in The Lancet.

In order to arrive at an internationally agreed minimum data set for registration, a consultation exercise is now being undertaken. The opinions of international experts in systematic review, methodology, commissioning, and guideline development in health and social care and journal editors around the world are being sought.

To participate in this exercise please go to www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/projects/register.htm

Professor Lesley Stewart, Director of CRD, said “We believe the register will promote research transparency, reduce the potential for bias and should lead to improved quality of systematic reviews and the decisions that rely upon them. It should also help avoid duplication and support the efficient use of research funding. Following publication of the 2009 PRISMA statement, CRD received a number of unsolicited applications for registration of review protocols, which we believe indicates that the systematic review community is ready to support this initiative.”

For further information please contact Alison Booth at [email protected]