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Zombie trials are often monocentric and cluster within fabricated evidence “factories”: a cohort study of 236 retracted randomized controlled trials with confirmed data fabrication

2026-07-24

Abstract excerpt

<h4>Background</h4> Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that rely on fabricated or fictitious data, commonly known as “zombie” trials, threaten evidence-based medicine by contaminating systematic reviews and clinical guidelines. We describe a cohort of zombie trials with confirmed data fabrication. <h4>Methods</h4> The cohort was derived from the Retraction Watch database by updating and extending the dataset us...

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Literature Corpus work
90c15d9e-f1db-558c-acc0-d5cca80b6e8f
DOI
10.64898/2026.07.23.26357975
Open publication

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Zombie trials are often monocentric and cluster within fabricated evidence “factories”: a cohort study of 236 retracted randomized controlled trials with confirmed data fabricationDOI 10.64898/2026.07.23.26357975
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