Scientist trust in medical research: a survey of authors from 28 countries.

IMPORTANCE

Peer-review is the lynchpin to research integrity, quality and trust in published health research findings.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the level of trust in peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed medical research among scientists who publish medical research.

METHODS

A survey was conducted of corresponding authors of papers accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal between September and December 2024 ( = 285). Survey questions focused on trust in the results in peer-review and non-peer-reviewed results. Deidentified data was provided to the current investigators for a secondary analysis. The level of press freedom in the country and whether the investigators in the country were oriented toward scientific papermills for publishing research was also evaluated.

RESULTS

Although 94% of the respondents have high trust in peer-reviewed research, a significant proportion (32.4%) have trust in non-peer-reviewed research. A majority (54.7%) believe that public trust in medical research findings is influenced by the reader's political beliefs. The current peer review system is too slow (79%). Respondents from countries with a high prevalence of use of scientific papermills and low press freedom had more agreement that non-peer-reviewed research should be indexed than those from other countries (both < 0.01). Authors who have published few papers are more trusting of non-peer-reviewed research (.006) and more in agreement that non-peer-reviewed research should be indexed (.015).

CONCLUSION

Rebuilding the guardrails and trust in peer-review is necessary. A more streamlined peer-review system may be necessary to rebuild trust.