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:

• Systematic review protocols: PROSPERO
• Clinical Trials: ClinicalTrials.gov  or International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP)  or 
• Other studies: Open Science Framework

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.