Table 2.

Overview of the inclusion and exclusion criteria applied during the literature screening and study selection process

Inclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria

• Publications (full articles or conference abstracts) discussing the design and/or the results of clinical trials • Publications discussing clinical trials that investigate antineoplastic treatments • Publications discussing clinical trials that are described as pragmatic in the title, abstract or index terms

• Publications discussing other types of studies than clinical trials (e.g. cohort studies) • Publications discussing clinical trials conducted in other fields than oncology • Publications written in other languages than English • Publications that are not accessible • Publications discussing clinical trials that investigate non-therapeutic interventions (e.g. screening programs) • Publications discussing clinical trials that investigate complementary therapies (e.g. acupuncture) • Publications discussing clinical trials that investigate symptomatic therapies (e.g. analgesics)