Disclosure

The term disclosure generally refers to the act of making something known or revealing information that was previously private, hidden, or unknown. The specific meaning can vary depending on the context:

Disclosure may refer to a healthcare professional informing a patient about a diagnosis, treatment options, risks, or errors that occurred during care.

The acknowledgment of facts that one might prefer not to mention, especially risks and conflict of interest.

The reviewer should remember that there is no clinical study without disclosure of ethical protection, committee approval, and the patient’s informed consent. Sometimes the journal requires that the clinical study be entered into a registry to be published. The best-known registry is probably www.clinicaltrials.gov, but there are other registries such as www.anzctr.org.au.

By registering the study the authors undertake the commitment to avoid the situation in which if the results of a trial are negative, a decision has to be made to either not publish the results or delay publication for an unspecifed time ¹⁾