We’re taking a leading role to champion openness and increase research transparency in the UK, making information about health and social care research available to everyone.
There is no health and social care research without people, and they deserve to know about research that is underway and what it has found. Transparency means that other researchers can build on this work, not duplicate it, and that study findings can inform clinical practice.
Scroll down to see how we are helping researchers to be transparent, and taking action where standards are not met.
The Problem:
12% of clinical trials are not registered
25% of clinical trials of medicines are not reported
90% of clinical trials have not told participants about findings
Make it Public
We’re making research transparency the norm, making it easy and making information public. thanks to our 2020 strategy.
- everyone can see research is going on and what studies have found
- researchers do not duplicate efforts and can build on each other’s work.
- research can inform best quality care and preventive measures
What did your study find?
We’ve made it easy for researchers to tell us what their study found by introducing a new way for them to submit a lay summary of results and tell us how they have fed back to participants. These are longstanding requirements, but collecting the information in a standard way means that the HRA can more easily check which studies are transparent and publish information about them for the benefit of everyone.
Championing openness and driving improvements
Our first annual Make it Public conference took place in November 2021 to encourage and share best practice in research transparency.
Helping researchers to be transparent
From 2022, the HRA will automatically register Clinical Trials of Investigative Medicinal Products, taking the burden away from research sponsors and researchers and helping to make transparency easy.
Juliet Tizzard, Director of Policy and Partnerships'Registering trials reduces research waste. It prevents duplication and means that more people can find out about studies to join.'
Registering tissue banks
We encourage research tissue banks to have ethics review of their arrangements for collection, storage, use and distribution of tissue. Registering on the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) Tissue Directory is a condition of approval.
- registering tissue banks helps more researchers to access these resources so they can better understand diseases and develop new treatments.