Speaker
Description
Growing concerns about the reproducibility, generalisability and (more recently) credibility of biomedical research publications underscore the need for methods that both synthesise evidence and diagnose weaknesses in the research ecosystem. Systematic review and meta-analysis of animal studies is traditionally used to evaluate preclinical efficacy and inform future research in animals or humans. This presentation will explore how this methodology can evolve into an essential tool for detecting integrity-related issues within and across research fields. Drawing on over a decade of experience in conducting and refining preclinical systematic reviews, I will illustrate how structured evidence synthesis reveals challenges in preclinical literature, including incomplete reporting, inadequate implementation of measures to reduce bias, and image duplication and manipulation issues. As case studies, I will present our recently published investigation into image-related issues in 608 animal studies of early brain injury after subarachnoid hemorrhage, of which 243 (40.0%) were identified as problematic, as well as other relevant examples.
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