Problematic trial detection in ClinicalTrials.gov

Clinical trials are crucial in determining the effectiveness of treatments and directly affect clinical and policy decisions. These decisions are undermined if the data are problematic due to data fabrication or other errors. Researchers have worked on developing statistical methods to detect problematic data. This project aims to develop new methods and apply them to results reported in the ClinicalTrials.gov database. Using both established and and the newly developed statistical methods we will investigate the prevalence of problematic data, trends of problematic data over time, and whether the prevalence of problematic data is predicted by trial characteristics such as funding type.
Keywords: clinicaltrials.gov, problematic data, error, data fabrication