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.