Double blind, you have been voted off the island!

“Double blind” is the term researchers frequently use, and readers frequently accept, as a key marker of the validity of a randomised controlled trial (RCT). Clinical trial experts and clinicians, when asked, are all ready to offer a definition of what double blind means. Unfortunately, however, their answers differ substantially.1 Thus, the term lacks consistency in its use and interpretation, a critical flaw for any technical term. In this editorial, we advocate abandoning the current blinding lexicon (ie, single, double, and triple blinding) and recommend transparent reporting of the blinding status of each group involved in the execution, monitoring, and reporting of clinical trials. Blinding (or masking) in RCTs is the process of withholding information about treatment allocation from those who could potentially be influenced by this information. Blinding has long been considered an important safeguard against bias. Benjamin Franklin, in 1784, was probably the first to use blinding in scientific experimentation.2 Louis XVI commissioned Franklin to evaluate mesmerism, the most popular unconventional “healing fluid” of the eighteenth century.2 By applying a blindfold to participants Franklin removed their knowledge …