Negatives Results to get much more exposure

Editors at 11 international science journals have imposed a new policy that will result in the public release of negative medical research that pharmaceutical companies often prefer to hide.

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors will require, as a condition for publication, that researchers register their studies in a public repository before undertaking clinical trials on volunteers.

"Honest reporting begins with revealing the existence of all clinical studies, even those that reflect unfavourably on a research sponsor's product," the committee wrote in an editorial to appear simultaneously in its member journals. "Unfortunately, selective reporting of trials does occur, and it distorts the body of evidence available for clinical decision-making."

The committee includes editors from the US-based New England Journal of Medicine, the Medical Journal of Australia and Britain's The Lancet, among others.

The policy was prompted by the tendency among pharmaceutical companies to hide negative research. A recent example was a non-published study on anti-depressants that could aggravate suicidal tendencies among adolescents.

The policy applies to clinical trials starting after July 1, 2005. Current trials have until September 13, 2005 to do so, according to the editorial published in the September 16 edition of the New Journal of Medicine.