The proliferation of Covid-19 research in major medical journals has led to a review of these studies, co-authored by Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA) researchers, being published in BMC Medicine.

 Image of coronavirus with pale blue background

Led by Terence Quinn from the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences (ICAMS) and including Claudia Geue, Ryan Field, Ping-Hsuan Hsieh and Dikshyanta Rana (HEHTA), the team conducted a study comparing methodological and reporting quality of Covid-19 and other research from the first wave of the pandemic.

Last year, there was a substantial increase in the publication of biomedical research related to Covid-19 in many prominent journals. The urgency in obtaining evidence and the looming fear worldwide accelerated its dissemination through scientific and public platforms such as social media and lay-press. Subsequently, concerns were raised regarding the integrity and quality of this rapidly published research.

The paper, published by BMC Medicine, reports that "the Covid-19 research published in major journals during the first wave of the pandemic had methodological and reporting issues that ultimately compromise the utility of the research and may cause harm".

Read the full paper

First published: 14 March 2018

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