Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research

Healthcare is at a turning point. We have entered a new era of high patient expectations, aging populations and socioeconomic constraints. At the same time, attention is focusing more closely on personalized/precision medicine approaches to healthcare delivery, and healthcare options, especially in fields such as oncology, are proliferating. The use of real-world evidence and big data offers the potential to harness vast amounts of medical data, but also brings significant methodological, legal and ethical challenges. There is now a pressing need to make direct comparisons between the available healthcare options and interventions in order to address uncertainties in optimal clinical practice.

In this new environment, the goal of patient-centered outcomes research and comparative effectiveness research (CER) is to assist patients, physicians, purchasers, and policy makers to choose between the available options in order to improve healthcare delivery at the level of the individual and on a population scale. The underlying question in undertaking comparative effectiveness research is – which treatment will work best, in which patient, and under what circumstances?

Against this backdrop, the peer-reviewed Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research (ISSN: 2042-6305) provides a rapid-publication platform for debate, and for the presentation of new findings and research methodologies.

Articles published in the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research cover key areas such as:

  • Studies of patient-centered outcomes, effectiveness or comparative effectiveness yielding new findings relating to diagnostics, therapeutics, surgical procedures, or other healthcare services or options
  • Systematic reviews of available evidence relating to the pros and cons of healthcare options for specific patient groups including precision medicine and comparative safety
  • Perspectives and debate relating to the methodology of comparative effectiveness studies and best practice issues
  • Commentary on both patient-relevant outcomes and economic implications
  • Real-world evidence assessing the comparative safety and effectiveness of existing and new treatment strategies
  • Direct ‘head-to-head’ comparisons of available diagnostic and therapeutic options – evaluating clinical alternatives with current standard of care
  • Evaluation and interpretation of the findings of recently completed CER trials, as well as articles discussing the design and rationale of newly commenced studies
  • Pharmacoeconomic studies, health economics and outcomes research

Through rigorous evaluation and comprehensive coverage, the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research provides stakeholders (including patients, clinicians, healthcare purchasers, and health policy makers) with the key data and opinions to make informed and specific decisions on clinical practice.