I receive quite a bit of feedback regarding one of my more popular mobile applications, ICU Trials by ClinCalc. Often, these emails involve a request to add a particular “landmark” trial with the next application update. With 10-20 recent requests for new trial additions, I’ve been forced to re-evaluate my criteria for what constitutes a seminal paper in the area of critical care medicine.
Although there isn’t an official scoring system or absolute list of must-have criteria, I’ve developed a simple list of ten important factors that help differentiate important trials from paramount, landmark gems in evidence-based medicine.