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To investigate how trialists record and report their recruitment strategies and the recruiter details in trial protocols, registries, and publications.A retrospective study of ovarian cancer (OC) trials between 2010 and 2021. We reviewed 154 trial publications, 30 protocols, 105 registry entries, and 26 trial websites associated with 88 phase III OC trials.None of the 88 trials reviewed published a recruitment strategy or made reference to an available recruitment strategy for the trial. Only 31% (n = 28) made reference to the recruiter but this was reported only in the protocol so we have no evidence these named recruiters performed the task. None of the trials reviewed which closed early or extended recruitment timelines due to slow accrual, reported measures taken to improve recruitment rates before stoppages or changes took place. There were disparities in the reported target recruitment numbers between the protocol, the publication, and the registry.Recruitment strategies exist, and we are sure most trial centers use recruitment strategies, but they need to be recorded and reported, as part of the supplementary material if not the main publication, so we can evaluate their effectiveness.

Under-served groups are populations unrepresented or disengaged from medical research or services despite a disproportionately high healthcare burden. Under-served groups may be directly (age, pregnancy as examples) or indirectly excluded (provision of written information in one language only as an example) from trial enrollment by strict eligibility exclusions. The purpose of our study was to assess eligibility criteria in published phase III breast cancer clinical trials to determine whether they excluded underserved groups either directly or indirectly.Medline was searched for phase III randomized controlled trials evaluating interventional drugs for breast cancer in high-impact journals published between January 1st, 2010 and December 31st, 2020. A total of 5133 eligible trials were returned, and 40 were selected, by simple randomization, for inclusion.All 40 trials had multiple exclusions that affected the recruitment of underserved groups. Clinical or scientific rationale for the recorded inclusion and exclusion criteria was underreported in 39 of 40 trials.Clinical trial eligibility criteria exclude underserved groups from breast cancer trials. Trialists should provide a justification for each eligibility criterion, and funders, reviewers, ethics committees, and others should demand one. Without this, underserved groups will remain just that: underserved.