Despite all the necessary efforts to standardize clinical research, we should not forget that research per se is an inherently creative process and that exploratory analyses can lead to novel research ideas and hypotheses ─ not the least when evaluating large data sets from routine practice. Some researchers unfortunately prefer to go on “fishing expeditions” to select and present only the results that fit their initial hypothesis from a pool of analyses: This analytical approach can in no way be considered exploratory, creative, or scientific. Exploratory analyses, on the other hand, are holistic and hypothesis-generating; they may reveal hidden patterns, identify new associations (signals) and provide novel explanations, and thus make a valuable contribution to the endeavor of scientific knowledge generation. Without creative ideas and approaches in research and initial signals from exploratory analyses, clinical and epidemiological research would be much poorer. With this in mind, I would be pleased to hear about a next study from you titled “… : an exploratory study”.