CLINICAL STUDIES

INTRODUCTION
Players are rival medical scientists trying to out-publish each other.

OBJECTIVE
The player to accumulate the most Publisher Points at the end of the game wins.
The game ends when the last card is drawn from the deck.

THE DECK
Players share a common deck.
The deck contains 6 card types:
Study
Methodology
Statistics
References
Journal
Flaw
Research

SETUP
Each player starts with a hand of 7 cards.

TURN SEQUENCE
Players take turns.
Each turn has 3 Phases:
Research Phase
Publish Phase
Flaw Phase

RESEARCH PHASE
Draw 1 card.
Max hand size is 10 cards.
Discard excess cards.
Research cards are played at the end of this phase.

PUBLISH PHASE
You may attempt to publish a Study.
To publish you must play a combination of ‘Publishing’ cards that includes:
1 Study Card
1 or more Methodology Cards
1 or more Statistics Cards
1 or more References Cards
1 Journal Card
Each card played is worth one Publisher Point.

FLAW PHASE
If you published this turn your opponent may play (discard) one or more Flaw cards. 
Each Flaw card played negates one ‘Publishing’ card of the indicated type.
Negated cards are discarded.  
You play cards from your hand to replace the negated cards.
After this cardplay, if the Study does not contain at least one card of 
each ‘publishing’ type the study does not get published and all remaining 
cards are returned to your hand. 


CARD TYPE NOTATION
S = Study
M = Methodology
T = Statistics
R = Reference
J = Journal
F = Flaw
X = Research 


CARD LIST			Type	Notes
High Impact Factor      	J	Worth 3 Publisher Points
Timely Publication		J	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Prestigious Journal		J	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Peer Reviewed Journal		J	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Core Journal			J 	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Medical Journal			J 	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Honorary Authorship		J	
Trade Journal			J
Supplement			J	
Electronic Journal		J
Reputable Affiliation		J
Qualified Authorship		J	
Poster Presentation		J
Citations			R	
Review Articles			R
Literature Evaluation		R
Drug Monographs			R
Common Knowledge		R
Tertiary Literature		R
Research Reports		R 	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Landmark Trials			R	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Abstract Search			R
Indexing Services		R
Secondary Literature		R
Electronic Database		R
Primary Literature		R 	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Randomized Controlled Trial	S	Worth 3 Publisher Points
Placebo Controlled		S	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Multi-Center Study		S	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Prospective Study		S 	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Cohort Study			S	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Case Report			S
Case Control Series		S
Cross-Sectional Study		S
Retrospective Study		S
Parallel Study			S
Crossover Study			S
Meta-Analysis			S
Survey Research			S
Sound Methods			M	
Steering Committee		M	
Informed Consent		M
Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria	M
Baseline Assessment		M	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Double Blind			M	Worth 3 Publisher Points
Stratified Randomization	M
Run-In Phase			M
Internal Validity		M
External Validity		M
Intention to Treat Analysis	M
Surrogate End Points		M
Sub-Group Analysis		M
Secondary Outcomes		M
Null Hypothesis			T
Normal Data Distribution	T
Contigency Tables		T
Sensitivity & Specificity	T
Regression & Correlation	T
Descriptive Statistics		T
Inferential Statistics		T
P-Value Significance		T 	Worth 3 Publisher Points
Confidence Intervals		T
Hypothesis Testing		T
Parametric Tests		T
Relative Risk Reduction		T 	Worth 2 Publisher Points
Power Analysis			T
Analysis of Variance		T
Revisions			X	Draw 2 cards
Evidence Based Medicine		X	Draw 2 cards
Publish or Perish		X	Draw 2 cards
Loss to Follow-up		X	Opponent must discard 2 cards
Duplicate Publication		F	Negate a Journal card
Peer Review Lag Time		F	Negate a Journal card
Conflict of Interest		F	Negate a Journal card
Unorthodox Ideas		F	Negate a Journal card
Inappropriate Test		F	Negate a Statistics card
False Positive			F	Negate a Statistics card
Sample Size Too Small		F	Negate a Statistics card
Sampling Error			F 	Negate a Statistics card
Hawthorne Effect		F	Negate a Methodology card
Protocol Deviation		F	Negate a Methodology card
Confounding Variables		F	Negate a Methodology card
Systematic Error		F	Negate a Methodology card
Plagiarism			F	Negate a Reference card
Paraphrase			F	Negate a Reference card
Sin of Omission			F	Negate a Reference card
Data Dredging			F 	Negate a Study card
Positive Outcome Bias		F	Negate a Study card