Medical journals to tight up rules and regulations

&to=http://english.pravda.ru/economics/2001/06/28/8932.html' target=_blank>Health care in Canada, and around the world, is set to improve following an announcement that 11 leading medical journals are tightening their rules on publishing studies. Editors of these journals say they will refuse to print results of human clinical trials that are not publicly registered early in the process, well before an outcome could be known.

Registering a study would involve posting its details on a respected medical website, open to the public free of charge, such as that of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Once a trial has been registered, it can be followed, and tough questions can be asked about its outcome.