Registries and Registration of Clinical Trials

Abstract

The arguments in favor of the registration of clinical trials are now familiar.1–4 Chief among these addresses the practice of selective reporting, whereby negative or detrimental studies are not brought into the public domain, which experts on the subject of clinical trials consider an important form of scientific misconduct.5 This practice, as illustrated in a number of high-profile examples, have increased the demand for the mandatory public registration of clinical trials. Registration of trials should improve the completeness, reliability, and quality of the interpretation of clinical research. This need for registration prompts the question of where trials should be . . .