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Article History

Received: 31 October 2017

Accepted: 12 February 2018

First Online: 20 February 2018

Authors’ information

: AE is a PhD student with Trial Forge (). His PhD study will both gather and generate evidence regarding what can be done at the pre-trial stage to improve recruitment and retention with the aim of developing guidance to support trialists in making evidence-informed trial design decisions. KG is a Senior Research Fellow and MRC Methodology Fellow working in methodological research across both the Health Care Assessment and Delivery of Care Programmes within The Health Services Research Unit.HG is a PhD student with Trial Forge. Her project focusses on improving the efficiency of clinical trials, with particular focus on patient recruitment.CF is an Information Specialist at the Health Services Research Unit, providing information support and advice across the Unit’s research activities. In particular, she is responsible for the literature searching and reference management for the evidence synthesis team. Her main research interest is the development and assessment of search filters in support of systemmatic reviews and health technology assessments.ST is a Professor in Health Services Research and leading the Trial Forge Group within the Health Services Research Unit. He is active in the field of efficient trial design, particularly pragmatic trial design, improved recruitment and retention interventions for trials, the design of complex interventions, and the effective presentation of research evidence.

: Not applicable.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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