What is a clinical trial registry?

A clinical trial registry serves as a comprehensive database that contains information about both ongoing and completed clinical trials. It is designed to provide transparency in the clinical research process and enable stakeholders, including researchers, healthcare professionals, and the public, to access detailed information about clinical trials. This includes data on trial objectives, methodologies, participant demographics, locations, and results.

The importance of clinical trial registries lies in their role in promoting ethical research practices, reducing publication bias, and increasing accountability among researchers. By publicly sharing trial information, these registries ensure that there is visibility into what studies are being conducted and help prevent the non-publication of negative or inconclusive results.

In contrast, a private database for pharmaceutical companies would not have the same level of accessibility or transparency as a public registry. Similarly, a collection of published research studies does not encompass the scope of information available through a clinical trial registry, which includes ongoing trials and those that may have not yet been published. Finally, a regulatory body overseeing clinical trials focuses on the compliance and regulatory aspects rather than aggregating data about the trials themselves. Thus, the correct classification of a clinical trial registry is that it is a database that contains extensive information about clinical trials, aligning perfectly with the description provided in the correct answer