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Minimization is a largely nonrandom method of treatment allocation for clinical trials. We conducted a systematic literature search to determine its advantages and disadvantages compared with other allocation methods. Minimization was originally proposed by Taves and by Pocock and Simon. The latter paper introduces a family of allocation methods of which Taves' method is the simplest example. Minimization aims to ensure treatment arms are balanced with respect to predefined patient factors as well as for the number of patients in each group. Further extensions of the method have also been proposed by other authors. Simulation studies show that minimization provides better balanced treatment groups when compared with restricted or unrestricted randomization and that it can incorporate more prognostic factors than stratified randomization methods such as permuted blocks within strata. Some more …