All Global, M3 USA and Medefield have set up The Trust Alliance to promote industry standards and best practices, and will start by jointly creating a blacklist of fraudulent online respondents.

It will also work to ensure data integrity and transparency in data collection.

Allan Bowditch, formerly of GfK Martin Hamblin’s healthcare division and now owner of his own healthcare research consultancy, will serve as the alliance’s industry liaison. He said the formation of the alliance was an “unprecedented initiative” to tackle industry challenges through collaboration.

The new respondent blacklist will merge the existing blacklists of the member companies, to exclude people who lie about who they are or who don’t complete surveys properly.

Bowditch said: “Historically, individual companies have kept their own registers, but sharing this information openly will make it much easier for companies to identify and exclude fraudulent research participants. This positive step is in the best interests of all parties, including the research companies and the healthcare and pharmaceutical clients they serve.”