Fate of Protocols Submitted to a French National Funding Scheme: A Cohort Study
A partir de données portant sur 481 projets soumis à évaluation dans le cadre du Programme hospitalier de recherche clinique français en 2000, cette étude analyse l'association entre l'obtention d'un soutien financier, le démarrage de l'essai envisagé, son achèvement et la publication des résultats
Background : The fate of clinical research projects funded by a grant has been investigated, but there is no information on the projects which did not receive funding. The fate of these projects is not known: do they apply for and/or receive funding from other sources or are they carried out without specific funding?
Purpose : The aim of the study was to describe all clinical research projects submitted to a French national funding scheme (PHRC 2000) and to assess project initiation, completion and publication status taking into account whether or not they received funding.
Methods : This study is a retrospective cohort. The initial project characteristics were retrieved from the submission files and follow-up information was collected from the primary investigator. The percentages of projects started, completed and published were studied.
Results : A total of 481 projects were studied. Follow-up information was obtained for 366. Overall, 185 projects were initiated (51%); 139 of them were funded by the PHRC 2000 or other sources. The most commonly cited reason for not initiating a project was a lack of funding. Subsequently, 121 of the projects initiated were completed (65%). Accrual difficulties were the main reason cited to explain why studies were stopped prematurely or were still ongoing. Finally, 88 of the completed projects were published (73%). Amongst the completed projects, the only factor explaining publication was the statistical significance of the results.
Conclusions : Obtainment of funding was a determining factor for project initiation. However, once initiated, the funding did not influence completion or publication.
PLoS ONE , article en libre accès, 2013