David Moher's research while affiliated with Brown University and other places

Publications (824)

Article
Objective: To evaluate open science policies of imaging journals, and compliance to these policies in published articles. Methods: From imaging journals listed we extracted open science policy details: protocol registration, reporting guidelines, funding, ethics and conflicts of interest (COI), data sharing, and open access publishing. The 10 most...
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Background While the modes of transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) are well studied, the risk of transmission in various group settings or activities is less clear. This living scoping review aims to summarize the risk factors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread in common group activities (e.g. soci...
Preprint
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Introduction and Objective: Open science (OS) aims to make the dissemination of knowledge and the research process transparent and accessible to everyone. With the increasing popularity of complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine (CAIM), our objective was to assess practices and perceived barriers towards OS among CAIM researchers. Meth...
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Background Several open science-promoting initiatives have been proposed to improve the quality of biomedical research, including initiatives for assessing researchers’ open science behaviour as criteria for promotion or tenure. Yet there is limited evidence to judge whether the interventions are effective. This review aimed to summarise the litera...
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Background: There is a growing body of literature on complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine (CAIM), which offers a holistic approach to health and the maintenance of social and cultural values. Bibliometric analyses are an increasingly commonly used method employing quantitative statistical techniques to understand trends in a particu...
Article
Background: Open science is a movement and set of practices to conduct research more transparently. The adoption of open science has been recognized to support innovation, equity, and transparency. The Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (Neuro) has committed to becoming an ‘open science’ institute, the first of its kind in Canada. Here we rep...
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INTRODUCTION: The debate on scientific research and reporting integrity issues in Brazil is incipient. Literature suggests that a journalology training course could help to improve the competencies of the participants. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the immediate impact of a journalology training course on perceived academic competencies, comprised of know...
Preprint
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We conducted an international cross-sectional survey of biomedical researchers perspectives on the reproducibility of research. This study builds on a widely cited 2016 survey on reproducibility, and provides a biomedical-specific and contemporary perspective on reproducibility. To sample the community, we randomly selected 400 journals indexed in...
Preprint
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Background: Preprints are scientific manuscripts that are made available on open-access servers but are not yet peer reviewed. While preprints are becoming more prevalent uptake is not uniform or optimal. Understanding researchers' opinions and attitudes towards preprints is valuable to their successful implementation. Understanding knowledge gaps...
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Background Multicenter clinical trials play an indispensable role for assessing the efficacy of a new intervention or treatment, particularly in Phase II or III studies. Previous studies have shown that these studies often suffer from inadequate reporting of key details related to their design, implementation, and analysis, both in the protocol and...
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A goal of evidence synthesis for trials of complex interventions is to inform the design or implementation of novel versions of complex interventions by predicting expected outcomes with each intervention version. Conventional aggregate data meta-analyses of studies comparing complex interventions have limited ability to provide such information. W...
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Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems or robots that can perform tasks associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning, problem-solving, and learning. While AI programs have not matched human versatility, they are increasingly used in various domains like self-driving cars, speech transcription, medical diagnosis, and smart...
Article
Background: Rapid antigen detection tests (RADTs) for SARS-CoV-2 testing offer several advantages over molecular tests, but there is little evidence supporting an ideal testing algorithm. We aimed to examine the diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) and the effectiveness of different RADT SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies. Methods: Following PRISMA DTA gui...
Preprint
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Background Open science is a movement and set of practices to conduct research more transparently. Implementing open science will significantly improve public access and supports equity. It also has the potential to foster innovation and reduce duplication through data and materials sharing. Here, we survey an international group of researchers pub...
Article
Objective: To create a comprehensive list of all openly available online trainings in scholarly peer review and to analyze their characteristics. Study design and setting: A systematic review of online training material in scholarly peer review openly accessible between 2012 and 2022. Training characteristics were presented in evidence tables an...
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Introduction: Reproducibility is a central tenant of research. We aimed to synthesize the literature on reproducibility and describe its epidemiological characteristics, including how reproducibility is defined and assessed. We also aimed to determine and compare estimates for reproducibility across different fields. Methods: We conducted a scoping...
Article
Reproducibility is a central tenant of research. We aimed to synthesize the literature on reproducibility and describe its epidemiological characteristics, including how reproducibility is defined and assessed. We also aimed to determine and compare estimates for reproducibility across different fields.
Article
Reproducibility is a central tenant of research. We aimed to synthesize the literature on reproducibility and describe its epidemiological characteristics, including how reproducibility is defined and assessed. We also aimed to determine and compare estimates for reproducibility across different fields.
Article
Reproducibility is a central tenant of research. We aimed to synthesize the literature on reproducibility and describe its epidemiological characteristics, including how reproducibility is defined and assessed. We also aimed to determine and compare estimates for reproducibility across different fields.
Article
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Importance: Numerous studies have shown that adherence to reporting guidelines is suboptimal. Objective: To evaluate whether asking peer reviewers to check if specific reporting guideline items were adequately reported would improve adherence to reporting guidelines in published articles. Design, setting, and participants: Two parallel-group,...
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Background: There is a large body of evidence evaluating quality improvement (QI) programmes to improve care for adults living with diabetes. These programmes are often comprised of multiple QI strategies, which may be implemented in various combinations. Decision-makers planning to implement or evaluate a new QI programme, or both, need reliable...
Preprint
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Objective: To determine the reproducibility of biomedical systematic review search strategies. Design: Cross-sectional meta-research study. Population: Random sample of 100 systematic reviews indexed in MEDLINE in November 2021. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measure is the percentage of systematic reviews for which all database searche...
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Background . Well-written and transparent case reports (1) reveal early signals of potential benefits, harms, and information on the use of resources; (2) provide information for clinical research and clinical practice guidelines, and (3) inform medical education. High-quality case reports are more likely when authors follow reporting guidelines. D...
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Background: Systematic guidance for considering health equity in guidelines is lacking. This scoping review aims to synthesize current best practices for integrating health equity into guideline development and the benefits or drawbacks of these practices. Methods: We searched Ovid MEDLINE ALL and Embase Classic+Embase on the Ovid platform, CINA...
Preprint
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Purpose: To inform updated recommendations by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care on screening in a primary care setting for hypertension in adults aged 18 years and older. This protocol outlines the scope and methods for a series of systematic reviews and one overview of reviews. Methods: To evaluate the benefits and harms of screeni...
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Background Replication is essential to the scientific method. It is unclear what systematic reviewers think about the replication of systematic reviews (SRs). Therefore, we aimed to explore systematic reviewers' perspectives on (a) the definition and importance of SR replication; (b) incentives and barriers to conducting SR replication; and (c) a c...
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Background There are many benefits of sharing data, analytic code, and other materials, yet these items are infrequently shared among systematic reviews (SRs). It is unclear which factors influence authors' decisions to share data, code, or materials when publishing their SRs. Therefore, we aimed to explore systematic reviewers' perspectives on the...
Article
Randomized controlled trials remain the reference standard for healthcare research on effects of interventions, and the need to report both benefits and harms is essential. The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (the main CONSORT) statement includes one item on reporting harms (i.e., all important harms or unintended effects in each group)....
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Background: Scholarly journals play a key role in the dissemination of research findings. However, little focus is given to the process of establishing new, credible journals and the obstacles faced in achieving this. This scoping review aimed to identify and describe existing recommendations for starting a biomedical scholarly journal. Methods:...
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Background The global spread of COVID-19 created an explosion in rapid tests with results in < 1 hour, but their relative performance characteristics are not fully understood yet. Our aim was to determine the most sensitive and specific rapid test for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. Methods Design: Rapid review and diagnostic test accuracy network me...
Preprint
Background: The sharing of health-related information has become increasingly popular on social media. Unregulated information sharing has led to the spread of misinformation, especially regarding complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine (CAIM). This scoping review synthesized evidence surrounding the spread of CAIM-related misinformati...
Article
Objective: We investigated the developing methods of reporting guidelines in the EQUATOR Network's database. Methods: In October 2018, we screened all records and excluded those not describing reporting guidelines from further investigation. Twelve researchers performed duplicate data extraction on bibliometrics, scope, development methods, pres...
Article
Full-text available
Background: There is a growing body of literature on complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine (CAIM), which offers a holistic approach to health and the maintenance of social and cultural values. Bibliometric analyses are an increasingly commonly used method employing quantitative statistical techniques to understand trends in a particu...
Article
Data sharing enhances the value of medical research and builds trust in clinical trials, but more biomedical researchers need to be trained in these approaches, which include meta-research, data science and ethical, legal and social issues.
Article
Objective: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are proliferating, as they are an important building block to inform evidence-based guidelines and decision-making. Enforcement of best practice in clinical trials is firmly on the research agenda of good clinical practice, but there is less clarity as to how evidence syntheses that combine these stu...
Article
Objective: To investigate scientific collaboration and citation metrics of reporting guidelines for health research. Study design and setting: Cross-sectional analysis of published articles for reporting guidelines for health research. A search of the EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network Library (from incep...
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The state of open science needs to be monitored to track changes over time and identify areas to create interventions to drive improvements. In order to monitor open science practices, they first need to be well defined and operationalized. To reach consensus on what open science practices to monitor at biomedical research institutions, we conducte...
Article
Objectives: To identify, summarize, and analyse comments on the core reporting guidelines for protocols of randomized trials (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials [SPIRIT] 2013) and for completed trials (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials [CONSORT] 2010), with special emphasis on suggestions for guideline modi...
Method
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The Guidance List for the repOrting of Bibliometric AnaLyses (GLOBAL) will provide minimum guidelines for the reporting of bibliometric analyses. Over the past decade, there has been a growing number of bibliometric analyses published in the peer-reviewed literature of varying quality. Despite this growth, surprisingly few published articles provid...
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Adherence to study registration and reporting best practices is vital to fostering evidence-based medicine. All registered clinical trials on ClinicalTrials.gov conducted in Canada as of 2009 and completed by 2019 were identified. A cross-sectional analysis of those trials assessed prospective registration, subsequent result reporting in the regist...
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The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) commenced a Quality Assurance Program in 2019 to monitor the quality of peer review in its Project Grant Competition Peer Review Committees. Our primary aim was to describe the performance of CIHR grant peer reviewers, based on the assessments made by CIHR peer review leaders during the first 3 year...
Preprint
Introduction. Observational studies are fraught with several biases including reverse causation and residual confounding, which may limit the credibility of reported associations. Overview of reviews of observational studies (i.e., umbrella reviews) synthesize systematic reviews with or without meta-analyses of cross-sectional, case-control, and co...
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RESUMO A declaração dos Principais Itens para Relatar Revisões Sistemáticas e Meta-análises (PRISMA), publicada em 2009, foi desenvolvida para ajudar revisores sistemáticos a relatar de forma transparente por que a revisão foi feita, os métodos empregados e o que os autores encontraram. Na última década, os avanços na metodologia e terminologia de...
Article
Importance Complete information in a trial protocol regarding study outcomes is crucial for obtaining regulatory approvals, ensuring standardized trial conduct, reducing research waste, and providing transparency of methods to facilitate trial replication, critical appraisal, accurate reporting and interpretation of trial results, and knowledge syn...
Article
Importance Clinicians, patients, and policy makers rely on published results from clinical trials to help make evidence-informed decisions. To critically evaluate and use trial results, readers require complete and transparent information regarding what was planned, done, and found. Specific and harmonized guidance as to what outcome-specific infor...
Article
Objective To explore indicators of the following questionable research practices (QRPs) in randomized controlled trials (RCTs): (1) risk of bias in four domains (random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding of participants and personnel, and blinding of outcome assessment); (2) modifications in primary outcomes that were registered...
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Background Transparency and reproducibility are expected to be normative practices in clinical trials used for decision-making on marketing authorisations for new medicines. This registered report introduces a cross-sectional study aiming to assess inferential reproducibility for main trials assessed by the European Medicines Agency. Methods Two r...
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Context Pituitary tumors are the third most common brain tumor and yet there is no standardization of the surveillance schedule and assessment modalities after transsphenoidal surgery. Evidence acquisition OVID, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library databases were systematically screened from database inception to March 5, 2020. Inclusion and exclusion...
Preprint
Objective: To identify, summarise, and analyse comments on the core reporting guidelines for protocols of randomised trials (SPIRIT 2013) and for completed trials (CONSORT 2010), with special emphasis on suggestions for guideline modifications.Methods: We included documents written in English and published after 2010 that explicitly commented on SP...
Article
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Purpose To inform updated recommendations by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care on screening for prostate cancer in adults aged 18 years and older in primary care. This protocol outlines the planned scope and methods for a series of systematic reviews. Methods Updates of two systematic reviews and a de novo review will be conducted...
Article
Results from clinical trials can be deemed trustworthy only if they are properly conducted and their methods are fully reported. The SPIRIT and CONSORT checklists, which have improved clinical trial design, conduct and reporting, are being updated to reflect recent advances and improve the assessment of healthcare interventions.
Conference Paper
Objectives Clinicians, patients, and policy makers rely on published results from clinical trials to help inform evidence-based decision-making. To be able to critically evaluate and use the results of trials, readers require complete and transparent information with respect to what was planned, what was done, and what was found. Inadequate reporti...
Preprint
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Background Despite its globally accepted use in scholarly publishing, peer review is currently an unstandardized process lacking uniform guidelines. Previous surveys have demonstrated that peer reviewers, especially early career researchers, feel unprepared and undertrained to effectively conduct peer review. The purpose of this study was to conduc...
Preprint
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Background Peer review is an integral part of maintaining the current standard of scientific publishing. Despite this, there is no training standard for peer reviewers and review guidelines tend to vary between journals. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of all openly available online training in scholarly peer review and...
Preprint
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Background: Adherence to study registration and reporting best practices are vital to foster evidence-based medicine. Poor adherence to these standards in clinical trials conducted in Canada would be detrimental to patients, researchers, and the public alike. Methods: All registered clinical trials on ClinicalTrials.gov conducted in Canada as of 20...
Article
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Background The torrent of research during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed the persistent challenges with reporting trials, open science practices, and scholarship in academia. These real-world examples provide unique learning opportunities for research methodologists and clinical epidemiologists-in-training. Dr. David Moher, a recog...
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Objective To develop a reporting guideline for overviews of reviews of healthcare interventions. Design Development of the preferred reporting items for overviews of reviews (PRIOR) statement. Participants Core team (seven individuals) led day-to-day operations, and an expert advisory group (three individuals) provided methodological advice. A pa...
Preprint
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Objectives To audit all publications produced by Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital researchers regarding open science practices and to survey Neuro-based researchers about barriers and facilitators to data sharing. Setting, design and participants In the first study, we retrieved 313 unique publications and collated all Neuro publications f...
Preprint
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Importance Transparency and data sharing are valuable practices in research, contributing to improved precision and flexibility in cumulative evidence; and ultimately expanding the research ecosystem by addressing one of the philosophical research norms that implies that knowledge belongs to society. Objectives The objective of the Reproducibility...
Preprint
Background: Scholarly journals play a key role in the dissemination of research findings. However, little focus is given to the process of establishing new, credible journals and the obstacles faced in achieving this. This scoping review aimed to identify and describe existing guidelines for starting a biomedical scholarly journal. Methods: We sear...
Chapter
Well-designed and properly executed randomized controlled trials provide the most reliable evidence on the efficacy of healthcare interventions. However, there is overwhelming evidence that the quality of reporting of randomized trials is not always optimal. Without transparent reporting, readers cannot judge the reliability and validity of trial f...
Conference Paper
Objectives Clinicians, patients, and policy makers rely on published results from clinical trials to help inform evidence-based decision-making. To be able to critically evaluate and use the results of trials, readers require complete and transparent information with respect to what was planned, what was done, and what was found. Inadequate reporti...
Preprint
Full-text available
The field of automatic biomedical image analysis crucially depends on robust and meaningful performance metrics for algorithm validation. Current metric usage, however, is often ill-informed and does not reflect the underlying domain interest. Here, we present a comprehensive framework that guides researchers towards choosing performance metrics in...
Preprint
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Background: Depression affects an individual’s physical health and mental well-being, and in pregnant and postpartum women, has specific adverse short- and long-term effects on maternal, child, and family health. The aim of these two systematic reviews is to identify evidence on the benefits and harms of screening for depression compared to no scre...
Article
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In 2009, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Health Canada, and other stakeholders established the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network (DSEN) to address the paucity of information on drug safety and effectiveness in real-world settings. This unique network invited knowledge users (e.g., policy makers) to submit queries to be answered by r...
Chapter
Reports of systematic reviews should transparently, completely, and accurately reflect what was done and what was found. This will facilitate optimal use, replication, and evaluation of systematic reviews by others. Several tools are available to guide the reporting of systematic reviews, including the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic revie...
Preprint
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Objectives: To examine changes in completeness of reporting and frequency of sharing data, analytic code and other review materials in systematic reviews (SRs) over time; and factors associated with these changes. Design: Cross-sectional meta-research study. Sample: A random sample of 300 SRs with meta-analysis of aggregate data on the effects of a...
Article
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Introduction Many predatory journals fail to follow best publication practices. Studies assessing the impact of predatory journals have focused on how these articles are cited in reputable academic journals. However, it is possible that research from predatory journals is cited beyond the academic literature in policy documents and guidelines. Give...
Preprint
Full-text available
Purpose: To inform updated recommendations by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care on screening for prostate cancer in adults aged 18 years and older in primary care. This protocol outlines the planned scope and methods for a series of systematic reviews. Methods: Updates of two systematic reviews and a de novo review will be conducted...
Preprint
The Preferred Reporting Items for Overviews of Reviews (PRIOR) statement provides an evidence-based reporting guideline developed using established, rigorous methods that involved a four-stage process (project launch, evidence reviews, modified Delphi exercise, development of the reporting guideline) and an international stakeholder group represent...
Preprint
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The publication of systematic reviews has rapidly increased making it challenging to remain apprised of and interpret evidence from their growing number. A newer form of evidence synthesis, overview of reviews, synthesizes evidence from multiple systematic reviews. Authors would benefit from evidence- and consensus-based guidance for the complete a...