Sackett and colleagues: what evidence-based medicine is and is not

What changed

Clarified evidence-based medicine as integration of clinical expertise and best external evidence.

Scientific scope

The record is the exact five-author 1996 BMJ article. It is a conceptual and practice framework, not a randomized trial or proof that a particular hierarchy or implementation always improves outcomes.

Evidence

The linked sources identify this contribution and its scope. WRS has not independently reconstructed the scientific claims. The record is the exact five-author 1996 BMJ article. It is a conceptual and practice framework, not a randomized trial or proof that a particular hierarchy or implementation always improves outcomes.

Contributors

• David L. Sackett · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• William M. C. Rosenberg · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• J. A. Muir Gray · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• R. Brian Haynes · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• W. Scott Richardson · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.

• BMJ full article on evidence-based medicine
• PMC archive of Sackett evidence-based medicine article

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

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