Today, members of MLA's Scholarly Communications Committee responded to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) proposal for sharing clinical trial data. The ICJME proposes that authors share the deidentified individual patient data underlying the results presented in their articles no later than six months after publication. This would be a condition of consideration for publication of a clinical trial in one of ICMJE's journals. Sharing data will increase trust in the conclusions drawn from clinical trials, as well as benefit patients, investigators, sponsors, and society.
Believing that data sharing is a shared responsibility, the ICJME proposal encourages editors of individual journals and funders and sponsors of clinical trials to support and ensure compliance to individual patient data.