For the third year running the number of health and social care studies involving patients and the public in research has remained high according to our latest data.
As part of our annual analysis of research applications in the UK the overall number reporting that they had involved members of the public or patients in their research in 2025 was 84% - the same as in 2024, and up from 74% in 2023.
In 2025, 3,801 studies received a favourable opinion from a Research Ethics Committee (REC). We drew a proportionate sample to reflect the distribution of study types in the full dataset. Our analysis looked at a sample of 416 studies, accounting for around 11% of the total number of studies.
We looked at whether public involvement rates changed when research was a clinical trial and whether the sponsor was commercial or non-commercial.
The biggest change in this year's data was seen in clinical trials reporting public involvement, up from 54% in 2023 and 64% in 2024, to 88% in 2025.
For the first time more clinical trials (88%) involved patients or the public compared to non-clinical trials (83%).
Non-commercially sponsored studies continued to perform strongly, with 92% reporting public involvement.
Whilst the percentage of commercially sponsored studies reporting public involvement also increased from 64% in 2024 to 69% in 2025, levels are still lagging well behind non-commercially sponsored studies.
Responding to the latest data, Naho Yamazaki, Deputy Director of Policy and Partnerships at the Health Research Authority, said: “We are really pleased to see that applicants are continuing to say that they have or will involve members of the public in their research at such high levels.
“In particular, I’m delighted to see that more clinical trials than ever are reporting public involvement.
“Whilst the results we see are encouraging, for the HRA our next natural step will be to start looking not just at the quantity but if the public involvement described meets our best practice principles.
“In our strategy for 2025-28 we have committed to research meaningfully involving members of the public. These results offer just part of the overall picture when it comes to public involvement.
"Over the next year we want to look more closely at whether applicants are fully explaining the public involvement they have done in their application, in line with our checklist for applicants. When done properly this gives the REC reviewing the application all the information they need to give a final opinion. If applicants aren’t giving the right level of detail to provide assurance, this can result in the REC needing to request further information.
"As we explore this in more detail we will look at whether we need to update our guidance to make it easier and clearer for researchers what information they need to provide first time.”
Excerpt from the official page. The original is authoritative.