Abstract/full free access: Managing clinical trials

"Managing clinical trials, of whatever size and complexity, requires efficient trial management. Trials fail because tried and tested systems handed down through apprenticeships have not been documented, evaluated or published to guide new trialists starting out in this important field. For the past three decades trialists have invented and re-invented the trial management wheel. The authors suggest that to improve the successful, timely delivery of important clinical trials, for patient benefit, it is time to produce standard trial management guidelines and develop robust methods of evaluation."