Table 2.

Participant characteristics

Participant category	Subcategory (not mutually exclusive)	HIC n (%*)	LMIC n (%*)	Total (%)
Clinical experts		201/295 (68)	69/75 (92)	270/370 (73)
	Clinical experts	166 (56)	62 (83)	228 (62)
	Clinical research experts	92 (31)	41 (55)	133 (36)
	Members of a clinical trial network	8 (3)	7 (9)	15 (4)
	Clinical and non-clinical researchers	12 (4)	1 (1)	13 (4)
Public participation		94/295 (32)	43/75 (57)	137/370 (37)
	Patients	72 (24)	28 (37)	100 (27)
	Carers	26 (9)	17 (23)	43 (12)
	Patient support group representatives	21 (7)	9 (12)	30 (8)
	Service users	4 (1)	5 (7)	9 (2)
Non-clinical research expertise		92/295 (31)	33/75 (44)	125/370 (34)
	Researchers	55 (19)	21 (28)	76 (21)
	Statisticians	22 (7)	8 (11)	30 (8)
	Epidemiologists	13 (4)	9 (12)	22 (6)
	Academic representatives	5 (2)	0 (0)	5 (1)
	Methodologists	19 (6)	5 (7)	24 (6)
	Economists	7 (2)	2 (3)	9 (2)
Authorities		50/295 (17)	22/75 (29)	72/370 (19)
	Regulatory agency representatives	33 (11)	15 (20)	48 (13)
	Government agencies	14 (5)	5 (7)	19 (5)
	Policy makers	10 (3)	7 (9)	17 (5)
	Charities	4 (1)	0 (0)	4 (1)
	Service commissioners	3 (1)	1 (1)	4 (1)
Industry representatives		36/295 (12)	19/75 (25)	55/270 (20)
	Pharmaceutical industries	32 (11)	19 (25)	51 (14)
	Device manufacturers	4 (1)	1 (1)	5 (1)
	Biotech company representatives	1 (1)	0 (0)	1 (1)
Others		10/295 (3)	8/75 (11)	18/370 (5)
	Service providers	5 (2)	2 (3)	7 (2)
	Ethicists	1 (1)	1 (1)	2 (1)
	Journal editors	4 (1)	5 (7)	9 (2)
	Systematic review authors	13 (4)	2 (3)	15 (4)
Not stated	Not reported	23 (8)	0 (0)	23 (6)

*Since the categories are not mutually exclusive each percentage is based on the total for that category, that is, 295 for HIC, 75 for LMIC and 370 for the total.

HIC, high-income country; LMIC, low-income and middle-income country.