“It is important to reinforce the importance of …”: ‘Hype’ in reports of randomized controlled trials

Research articles serve not just to inform but also to convince. Consequently, authors may be inclined to employ language to ‘sell’ aspects of their study. Such language may undermine objective and disinterested interpretation and bias readers’ evaluation of new knowledge. Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are a type of study that aims to minimise bias when testing treatments and, in medicine, RCTs are generally regarded as the ‘gold...