Paper
Ghost protocols are deeper silence than ordinary missing-results rows. The country watchlist changes once that stricter target is centered.
Which country-linked CT.gov portfolios remain most ghosted above expectation once the series shifts from adjusted no-results stock to excess ghost protocols? We analysed 249,507 eligible older closed interventional studies from the March 29, 2026 full-registry snapshot and exploded named-country links. Using the wave-nine country watchlist, we ranked country-linked portfolios by excess ghost stock, raw ghost counts, black-box stock, and black-box rates. France carried the largest country-linked ghost excess at 1,157 studies, followed by China at 1,007, Egypt at 955, and South Korea at 871. South Korea and China also stood out on black-box intensity, while France remained the largest Western ghost-stock portfolio on count. The deeper-silence geography therefore mixes very large European stock with sharper Asian and Middle Eastern ghost tails once stock-heavy Western systems, East Asian portfolios, and Egyptian-linked studies are read in the same frame together carefully. Country-linked ghost tables count country-linked studies rather than assigning each multinational record to one exclusive national portfolio.