Introduction

Why register trials?
In 2004 the members of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) published an editorial promoting the prospective registration of all clinical trials. The World Health Organisation also supported the registration of clinical trials, and with this in mind, they created the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) and founded a 20-item minimum dataset for effective registration.

Without registration, clinicians, researchers, patients and the public will remain in ignorance about ongoing and unpublished trials or confused about which trial is which. Opportunities for collaboration and reducing duplication of research effort will be missed. Publication bias and undeclared over-reporting will lead to misleading conclusions being drawn about the forms of care most likely to benefit patients. Patients may even be subjected to trials seeking evidence that is already available.

Not reporting RCTs is increasingly seen as scientific and ethical misconduct; legislation in some countries now requires registration of trials, while some funding agencies and official bodies strongly recommend it.

Current Controlled Trials
In response to the growing body of opinion in favour of prospective registration of controlled trials, Current Controlled Trials Ltd launched the Current Controlled Trials website, aiming to increase the availability and promote the exchange of information about ongoing clinical trials worldwide. Current Controlled Trials Ltd offers the following services:

• ISRCTN Register for ISRCTN.org (a not-for-profit organisation) – a register containing a basic set of data items on clinical trials that have been assigned an ISRCTN. More information on the ISRCTN Register can be found in the ISRCTN FAQ.
• metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT) a register hosting service for organisations wishing to list information on their ongoing and completed trials in a publicly accessible register. More information on the mRCT can be found in the mRCT FAQ.