  Context. Giant planets play a major role in multiple planetary systems.
Knowing their demographics is important to test their overall impact on
planetary systems formation. It is also important to test their formation
processes. Recently, three radial velocity surveys have established radial
distributions of giant planets. All show a steep increase up to 1-3 au, and two
suggest a decrease beyond. Aims. We aim at understanding the limitations
associated with the characterization of long-period giant radial velocity
planets, and to estimate their impact on the radial distribution of these
planets. Methods. We revisit the results obtained by two major surveys that
derived such radial distributions, using the RV data available at the time of
the surveys as well as, whenever possible, new data. Results. We show that the
radial distributions published beyond (5-8 au) are not secure. More precisely,
the decrease of the radial distribution beyond the peak at 1-3 au is not
confirmed.
