Table A1.

Search terms and strings

Database	Search string
Medline	Focus on ethics:
	(("Ethics"[Mesh] OR "Human Rights"[Mesh] OR "ethics"[Subheading])) AND ((((((((((((("Health Services Accessibility"[Mesh])) OR (("Continuity of Patient Care"[Mesh]))) OR (("Drugs, Investigational/supply and distribution"[Mesh]))) OR ((post-trial provision))) OR ((post-trial obligations))) OR ((post-trial access))) OR ((post-trial benefits))) OR ((post-trial responsibility))) OR ((follow-up)))) AND ((((("Clinical Trials as Topic"[Mesh])) OR (("Biomedical research"[Mesh]))) OR (("Human experimentation"[Mesh]))))))
	Focus on developing countries:
	((((("Vulnerable Populations"[MeSH Terms])) OR (("Developing Countries"[Mesh])))) AND (((("Patient Advocacy"[MeSH Terms])) OR (("Ethics"[Mesh] OR "Human Rights"[Mesh] OR "ethics"[Subheading]))))) AND (((((((("clinical trials as topic"[Mesh])) OR (("Human Experimentation"[Mesh]))) OR (("Biomedical Research"[MeSH Terms]))) OR (("Drugs, Investigational/supply and distribution"[Mesh])))) OR (("Research/organization and administration"[Mesh]))))
	Disjunction of terms used to refer to PTA in included publications: a
	“post-trial provision” or “post-trial obligation” or “post-trial obligations” or “post-trial access” or “posttrial access” or “post-trial benefit” or “post-trial benefits” or “post-trial responsibility” or “post-trial responsibilities” or “prior agreements”
Westlaw	“post-trial access”
JSTOR	“post-trial obligation”
Scidev.net	“post-trial responsibility”
LocatorPlus	“post-trial obligations”
Euroethics	“reasonable availability”
	“post-trial provision”
	“Post-trial follow-up”
	“after the trial" and research and drug
ETHXweb	post-trial
Ethos-Beta Electronic Theses Online Service	post-trial (any field) and (ethics (any field) or bioethics (any field))
WorldCat Dissertations	“post-trial access” (keyword)
	“after research” (keyword)
	“post-trial” (keyword)
	exploitation and “clinical research”

^aThese terms also included post-trial followup, after participation or aftercare, but we excluded them from the search string because the resulting searches were insufficiently specific.