Delays in publishing systematic review registrations in PROSPERO are hindering transparency and may lead to research waste

PROSPERO is an international prospective registry of systematic reviews.1 Registering a systematic review prospectively is considered a good research practice for multiple reasons, including transparency of the planned methods and prevention of unnecessary duplication of effort. Solla et al2 recently reported concerns that PROSPERO registration may not prevent double review on the same topic because the PROSPERO search engine is apparently failing in finding similar review projects. Another pertinent current problem of PROSPERO may hinder intended transparency and promote research waste and duplication efforts, namely, major delays in checking and publishing registrations that the PROSPERO is experiencing.1 On the PROSPERO web site, it has been indicated since 2019 that they are receiving an unprecedented number of records and that thus registrations from UK are prioritised, as the PROSPERO is funded by UK.1 A recent systematic review registration submitted by our team...
Source: Evidence-Based Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: COVID-19 Letters Source Type: research