b. Umbrella review for generating evidence-based statements
For the creation of the initial long list of statements, we conducted a
review of systematic reviews on RCT research integrity. The
prospectively registered umbrella review (https://osf.io/3ursn) was
carried out with a comprehensive search strategy covering major
electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Google
scholar) from inception to November 2021 to capture peer-reviewed and
grey literature. The review’s search and selecting strategy, data
extraction, methods for assessing methodological quality, and synthesis
of findings have been reported in an accompanying
paper.20 Building on the collated findings, a core
group of four stakeholders (AB, PC, MF and KSK) drafted clear, precise,
and actionable statements. The statement drafting process was piloted
using seven included reviews initially. The deliberations at this stage
helped to clarify the distinction between review findings and the
resulting statements. Each member of the core stakeholder group first
independently drafted statements, aiming for one action or
recommendation per statement, and then finalised them through
discussion.