Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trial registration is the prospective documentation of a trial's key information (hypothesis, design, population, outcomes) in a public registry before enrollment begins or results are known. In 2005, the World Health Organization established the requirement that all clinical trials be registered in an internationally recognized registry before participant enrollment. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) made registration a condition for publication in major medical journals in 2005, updated in 2015. Primary registries include ClinicalTrials.gov (U.S.), ISRCTN (UK), EudraCT (EU), and others operating under WHO oversight. Registration serves to prevent selective outcome reporting, reduce publication bias, and enhance research transparency.