GOST: A generic ordinal sequential trial design for a treatment trial in an emerging pandemic
by John Whitehead, Peter HorbyThis paper proposes a generic ordinal sequential trial design (GOST) for a randomised clinical trial comparing an experimental treatment for an emerging infectious disease with standard care. The design is intended as an off-the-shelf, ready-to-use robust and flexible option. This article was first published in PLOS.
Epidemic curves are an important component of the public health and global health toolbox. Learn more about creating and interpretting them.
Clinical Trials: One of the most important medical inventions in the last 100 years
by The Editorial TeamProfessor Sallie Lamb talks about the history of clinical trials, and explains important concepts such as randomisation, masking and minimisation of bias.
This article provides a helpful introduction to statistics as it relates to clinical research, explaining common terms and theories with examples and case studies. Powerpoint presentation also attached for further explanation.
Healthcare associated infections (HAI) are of important concern in patient care. This talk discusses Visual Analytics techniques which have been developed to help detect, monitor, analyse and understand trends, clusters and outbreaks of HAI.
The SWAT and SWAR programme is identifying issues about the methods of trials and systematic reviews about which there is sufficient uncertainty to justify research to support well-informed decision making about future designs and choices.
In this video of a seminar delivered at the University of Oxford in June 2014, Professor Nicholas White talks about the challenge of antimalarial resistance.
In celebration of Global Health Trials' fifth birthday (May 11th 2015) Professor Trudie Lang, Principal Investigator of the programme, talks to us about why Global Health Trials was started, why people should share their experience, and what the future holds.
Evaluating Clinical Trial Designs for Investigational Treatments of Ebola Virus Disease
by The Editorial TeamThis article published in PLOS Medicine on April 14th, 2015 discusses how best to test Ebola treatment.
SPIRIT guidelines for Protocol Writing
by SPIRIT-StatementLinks to the SPIRIT guidelines for protocol development and information about these guidelines - all free and open access.
Discussing the study protocol
by D. Shamley, C. Heiberg, N. Kramer, B. Wright & C. ReddyISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol for Severe Emerging Infection (Master)
by ISARIC Coordinating CentreThe ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol for Severe Emerging Infection, with supporting documents. Under WHO ERB review.
Five keys to improving research costing in low- and middle-income countries
by ESSENCE on Health Research InitiativeESSENCE on Health Research have created a good practice document on research costing. It includes a review of the funding practices related to the definition and funding of direct and indirect costs.
Technology issues for research in remote areas/developing regions
by Mike Workman - Senior ContributorResearchers can often be tripped up by issues they encounter in developing regions and remote areas. Although no definitive answers are provided (there are just too many options and unknowns), the following issues should be considered when planning such a trial.
Research misconduct is a global problem as research is a global activity. Wherever there is human activity there is misconduct, but we lack reliable data on the extent and distribution of research misconduct. This PLoS paper seeks to illustrate some examples of researsch misconduct in LMICs.
Research reporting guidelines are standard statements that provide guidance on how to report research methodology and findings. These are in the form of checklists, flow diagrams or texts. Most of the biomedical journals require authors to comply with these guidelines. Guidelines are available for reporting various study designs:
- CONSORT Statement (reporting of randomized controlled trials)
- STARD (reporting of diagnostic accuracy studies)
- STROBE (reporting of observational studies in epidemiology)
- PRISMA (reporting of systematic reviews)
- MOOSE (reporting of meta-analyses of observational studies)
A range of downloadable templates and tools for Clinical Research, including monitoring checklists, budget spreadsheets, informed consent forms, SOPs and so on.
This article is an introduction to cluster randomised trials.
This article was written by a researcher from Sri Lanka and presents a very helpful overview on Biomedical Ethics. This article will be helpful to all levels of research staff and others who might want an accessible overview
An example of a academic research centre resolving the issue of clinical trial data management Peer reviewed by members of the data management expert committee for this programme.