Publication status of contemporary oncology randomised controlled trials worldwide

abstract
 

Conclusions

Despite the ethical obligations and societal expectations of disclosing findings promptly, oncology RCTs performed poorly.

Highlights

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Little is known about the publication status of contemporary oncology RCTs worldwide.

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We found one-third of the trials remained unpublished after at least 3 years of completion.

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More than two-thirds of the trials were unpublished timely within 24 months of completion.

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Trials conducted in Asia and other regions were less likely to be published timely.

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There was a trend for timely publication of positive trials compared with negative ones.

 We identified 598 completed oncology RCTs; overall, 398 (66.6%) had been published. For published trials, the median time to publication was 25 months (interquartile range, 16–37 months). Only 192 trials (32.1%) were published within 24 months. Timely publication was independently associated with trials completed late in 2012.