Methodological quality of clinical trials in pediatric dentistry research published in ISI journals, 2008-2012.

Abstract

There are many studies about the methodological quality of articles in pediatric dentistry. However, there is no up-to-date information or the use of measurement guidelines designed and validated for this purpose. The aim of this article is to determine the methodological quantity and quality of clinical trials (CT) in pediatric dentistry published in four Web of Knowledge (ISI-indexed journals) between 2008 and 2012. Clinical trials published in four ISI pediatric dentistry journals were evaluated. Name of the journal, year of publication, country of the corresponding author, type of CT and main subject were registered. A scale of methodological quality (MINCIR) from 11 to 36 points was applied to evaluate each article, establishing 18 points as the cutoff for “good methodological quality”. The quality was calculated by country, subject area and journal. Of 1,151 published articles, 149 (12.5%) clinical trials were selected. Their methodological quality was 15.7±2.7 points. 17% of the CT achieved a score equal to or greater than a methodological quality considered “acceptable”. One in every 6 published clinical trials was of good methodological quality. This would actually make it difficult to adopt the results of these investigations into routine clinical practice or to include them in future systematic reviews and meta-analyses.