Independent · non-commercial · publishes on a quarterly cycle|Current cycle 2026 Q3
Compound Evidence InstituteEvidence synthesis · established 2023Graded assessments of compounds, trials, methods and supply
Document set current to 30 July 2026
Defined term · Evidence assessment

Absence of evidence

A state in which no study adequate to answer a question has been identified. The Institute records an absence of evidence as distinct from evidence of absence: the first says nothing about whether an…

Document identifier
CEI-GT-006
Series
Defined term
Version
1.0
Published
30 Jul 2026
Last reviewed
30 Jul 2026
Certainty
Not rated

§1Absence of evidence

§1.2Category

Evidence assessment — Terms describing how the Institute judges and reports the strength of evidence.

§1.3Related terms

  • Evidence of absence — A finding, from a study adequately powered to detect an effect of the size of interest, that no such effect was observed. A negative result from an adequately powered…
  • Very low certainty — The Institute has very little confidence in the effect estimate. In this document set a very low rating most often reflects an absence of controlled human evidence…
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