About the Authors

Jamie J. Kirkham

jjk@liv.ac.uk

Affiliation Centre for Medical Statistics and Health Evaluation, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England

Doug G. Altman

Affiliation Centre for Statistics in Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, England

Paula R. Williamson

Affiliation Centre for Medical Statistics and Health Evaluation, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England

Competing Interests

P.R.W. and D.G.A. are members of the Cochrane Collaboration.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: DGA PW. Performed the experiments: JJK. Analyzed the data: JJK. Wrote the paper: JJK PW. Carried out a comparison of protocols with reviews: JJK. Identified discrepancies and undertook correspondence regarding the reasons for such discrepancies with review authors and Cochrane Review Group Coordinators: JJK. Prepared the initial manuscript: JJK. Involved in the revision of this manuscript: JKK DGA PRW. Devised the idea for this project: DGA PRW. Provided input for the analysis of the data: DGA PRW. Guarantor for the project: PRW.