Reducing bias and improving transparency in biomedical and health research: A critical overview of the problems, progress so far and suggested next steps

In recent years there has been increasing awareness about problems which have undermined trust in science generally. This review outlines some of the most important issues facing medical research including research culture, lack of transparency, reporting biases and the failure to produce reproducible results. It examines measures which have been instituted to address these problems to date. The paper concludes by proposing three achievable actions which could be readily implemented in medical research to deliver significantly improved transparency and mitigation of bias.