Trial registers are commonly searched for systematic reviews, but their relevance will depend on your topic eg:
- highly relevant when reviewing the clinical effectiveness of a medical intervention
- less relevant to a review of lived experience narratives.
Why search trial registers?
- Exploring trial registers can be particularly useful when looking for negative outcomes or reports that have not yet been published.
- If a trial has been completed but not reported on, why might that be?
- If multiple trials of an intervention were cancelled due to poor recruitment or adverse effects, then what does that add to the published literature?
- Do publications reflect the content of trial registers? if not, why not?
Trial registers include:
Record your methodology
- name of register
- search query
- date searched
- number of results
