Why register a study?
- Registering your study is an important part of transparent research practices. Pre-registering your protocol can be done for systematic reviews, clinical trials, and any type of study. this will help with your overall research plan.
- Peer review is possible - can obtain valuable & helpful feedback either formally or informally
- Important to determine how the study will be conducted and analyzed a priori in order to prevent selective outcome reporting and to ensure the results are independent of what researchers "want"
- If there are changes from the protocol when conducting the study, this is fine (and realistic) but describe why and when variance occurred
- Can use this as a tool to protect against being "scooped"
Why adopt transparency practices?
- Allows work to be audited/reviewed
- Ensures work is reproducible & usable
- Allows for collaboration & sharing
Where can I register my study:
More information about protocols and importance of transparent research practices:
Increasing value and reducing waste in research design, conduct, and analysis. The Lancet. Volume 383, Issue 9912, pages 166-175, 2014.