2. Variations on blinding.
| Description | Study |
| Explicitly referred to how participants, study personnel and raters were blinded + tested blinding. | Stotsky 1977 |
| Explicitly referred to how participants, study personnel and raters were blinded. | Breier 2002, Calver 2015, Nobay 2004 |
| Report that drugs had identical appearance ‐ no further details regarding rater blinding. | Fitzgerald 1969, Fruensgaard 1977, Paprocki 1977, Resnick 1984, Ritter 1972 |
| Explicitly state that rater was blinded ‐ no reference to participant blinding. Not all study personnel could have been blinded because person preparing drug (not blinded), often administered drug. | Bristol‐Myers 2005b |
| Study personnel and raters blinded, not clear if attempts made to blind participants. | Battaglia 1997, Battaglia 2002 |
| Raters blinded ‐ not clear if study personnel and participants were blinded. | Dorevitch 1999, Foster 1997, Salzman 1991 |
| "Double blind" ‐ no further information regarding blinding of participants, study personnel and raters. | Eli Lilly 2004, Kewala 1984, Kinon 2001d, Man 1973 |
| Described as double‐blind, but during oral phase haloperidol described as being in capsule form, and aripiprazole in tablet form, therefore unclear whether drugs had identical appearance. Not explicit if raters were blinded. | Bristol Myers 2004a |
| Described as double‐blind during IM phase ‐ open during oral phase ‐ no further information given regarding blinding. | Reschke 1974 |
| Described as "modified double", whereby staff administering drugs were not blinded, but raters were ‐ not clear if participants were blinded. | Tuason 1986 |
| Single‐blind studies ‐ "open label, rater blind". | Baldacara 2011, Currier 2004, Lim 2010, Shu 2010, Yin 2012 |
| Reported to be single‐blind, but unclear who was blind. | Li 2006 |
| Open‐label and rater blinding for some outcomes (BPRS). | Taymeeyapradit 2002 |
| Rater blinding for assessment of BPRS, but unclear regarding rater blinding for other outcomes and whether participants and study personnel were blind. | Bailine 1987 |
| Open studies | Brook 2000, Fang 2012, Garza‐Trevino 1989, Guo 2007, Higashima 2004, Huf 2007 |
| Not stated | Liang 2013, Liu 2012, Shi 2010, Walther 2014, Zhou 2014 |
BPRS ‐ Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale