Fig. 1

CONSORT diagram for the press releases (participants) in the trial. Inclusion criteria: participating press offices were asked to send each press release based on peer-reviewed research that was relevant to human health, broadly defined (all biomedical, psychological or lifestyle topics), where the press office was leading the press release (rather than collaborating on a release by another office outside the trial) and the academic authors consented (we used opt-out consent). Our focus was on observational and experimental studies. Observational studies included cross-sectional and longitudinal designs as well as meta-analyses and systematic reviews based solely on observational research. Experimental research included randomised controlled trials, other experiments and meta-analyses or systematic reviews based solely on experimental designs. Press releases on studies that could not be classified as experimental or observational (e.g. simulations and mixed methods reviews) were excluded