Category Archives: Resource Highlights

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Discovering Clinical Trial Results: Is Searching ClinicalTrials.gov Necessary?

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When considering which databases and other information sources to search as part of the methodology for a systematic review (SR) project, SR team members often must decide how comprehensive they wish to be in their efforts to maximize the discovery of clinical trial results.

In the March 30, 2023 issue of JAMA, a research letter entitled Comparison of Availability of Trial Results in ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed by Data Source and Funder Type “examines the dissemination and timing of trial results by data source (i.e., ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed) and funder type (i.e., NIH, non-NIH U.S. federal agency, industry, and other).”

See:
Nelson JT, Tse T, Puplampu-Dove Y, Golfinopoulos E, Zarin DA. Comparison of Availability of Trial Results in ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed by Data Source and Funder Type. JAMA. 2023 Mar 30:e232351. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.2351. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36995689; PMCID: PMC10064282.

Key takeaway from this study:

“In this study, 39% of trials lacked results availability on ClinicalTrials.gov or PubMed after a minimum follow-up of 36 months following primary completion date. Nearly a quarter of all identified trial results were solely available on ClinicalTrials.gov, and 40% with available results were first available on ClinicalTrials.gov. Consistent with prior work, these findings suggest that searching both ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed maximizes discovery of trial results.”

In addition to searching the clinical trial registry records directly from their respective native interfaces, for example, ClinicalTrials.gov or the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), records from these sources are also included in Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) database, which is included as part of the Cochrane Library.

Learn more about the MSK Library’s Systematic Review Service or Ask Us at the MSK Library if you have any questions.

About Herbs Mobile App Now Available on iOS and Android Devices

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The MSK Bendheim Integrative Medicine Center recently released their About Herbs app for both iOS and Android.

Here are some key features: 

• 290 Entries on herbs, botanicals, and supplements with purported benefits, side effects, drug interactions & more
• Objective information backed by scientific references
• Formatted for both healthcare professionals and consumers
• Search by herb or supplement
• Save favorites for offline availability or to discuss them with your physician for safe use
• Explore featured products and services
• Updated weekly
• Original art renderings

Tenzing – A Tool for Capturing Author Affiliation and Authorship Contribution Data

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As team science and research articles with multiple authors (not to mention the “hyperauthorship” of “big team” science) have become the norm in the biomedical sciences, tools that help with tedious tasks (like keeping track of the credentials, affiliation and contact information for an unwieldy number of author contributors) are increasingly being developed and adopted by researchers eager for a simplified process.

In a previous blog post, the National Cancer Institute’s AuthorArranger tool was discussed. Developed in 2018, the AuthorArranger helps researchers collect the key author and affiliation details needed for manuscript submission. Although this tool is a huge time-saver and likely greatly increases the accuracy of the title page author information details transmitted to journal publishers, it could be even more useful if it collected some additional author data points (for example, ORCiD and individual author funding information).

In comes Tenzing, a more recent tool that elevates authorship data collection further, as it is “a web-based app that makes it easier for researchers to indicate who did what in their manuscripts”. Tenzing leverages the standardized CRediT (the Contributor Roles Taxonomy) system to collect details regarding how authors in different roles contributed to the project, in addition to, author contact, affiliation, ORCiD, and funding information.

To learn more about these tools and why they are so useful, see:

Questions? Ask Us at the MSK Library!