Mahmood Ahmad
Tahir Heart Institute
author@example.com

Protocol: CT.gov Publication Undercount Audit

This protocol audits a sponsor-class-stratified sample of older CT.gov records that lack linked publications in the registry interface. Each sampled NCT identifier is queried against PubMed using identifier-based searches, and sample estimates are reweighted to the sponsor-class distribution of older no-link studies. The primary estimand is the weighted PubMed NCT-match rate among the no-link older-study population. Because the audit uses NCT-based PubMed matching, it is deliberately strict and can miss publications that omit registry identifiers or fall outside PubMed.

Outside Notes

Type: protocol
Primary estimand: Weighted PubMed NCT-match rate among older CT.gov records lacking linked publications
App: CT.gov Publication Undercount Audit dashboard
Code: https://github.com/mahmood726-cyber/ctgov-publication-undercount-audit
Date: 2026-03-29
Validation: FULL REGISTRY RUN

References

1. ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. National Library of Medicine. Accessed March 29, 2026.
2. PubMed E-utilities. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Accessed March 29, 2026.
3. Zarin DA, Tse T, Williams RJ, Carr S. Trial reporting in ClinicalTrials.gov. N Engl J Med. 2016;375(20):1998-2004.

AI Disclosure

This work represents a compiler-generated evidence micro-publication built from structured registry data and deterministic summary code. AI was used as a constrained coding and drafting assistant for interface generation, packaging, and prose refinement, not as an autonomous author. The analytical choices, interpretation, and final outputs were reviewed by the author, who takes responsibility for the content.