Glossary
Preregistration.
Direct answer
Preregistration means lodging the research question, the chosen outcomes, the group sizes and the analysis plan in a public register before a study starts. It later becomes possible to check whether the published analysis matches the one that was planned. Preregistration separates planned testing from an after-the-fact hunt for striking numbers.
Without prior lodging, the most convenient error is shifting the target: if the planned outcome shows nothing, another and more favourable value moves to the front. Links discovered afterwards are not worthless, but they are hypotheses for the next study rather than evidence. Preregistration is what makes that boundary visible.
In human medicine, clinical trial registers are well established and a condition of publication. In equine research they are only emerging, so many analyses cannot be checked against a plan written in advance. A lodged registration is therefore a strong signal of quality in this particular field.
The evidence letter
Once a month: new syntheses, checked studies, and what has changed in the state of the evidence.