CT.gov Structural Missingness
2026-03-29 | full-registry ct.gov audit | plots, figures, and e156 bundle
Series
Industry Disclosure GapSponsor-Class HiddennessPhase Reporting GapStructural Missingness
Structural Dashboard

What disappears from CT.gov before results are even considered

Results reporting is only one layer of hiddenness. Publication links, IPD statements, descriptions, and locations disappear at scale too.

Open dashboardRead E156 paperProtocolSeries hub
Global gaps
By sponsor class
IPD
Publication links

Dashboard

Open dashboard at rootRead E156 micro-paperOpen protocolOpen series hub

Structural missingness is quieter than a missing results tab, but it still erodes what the registry can actually tell the public.

How to read the dashboard
Registry size
578,109
All studies
No publication link
63.4%
Largest global field gap
No IPD statement
48.3%
Second-largest global field gap
No locations
10.2%
Smaller but still material
Global view
STRUCTURAL SPARSITYGlobal missingness rates across the full registryNo publication link63.4%No IPD statement48.3%No detailed description32.7%No locations10.2%
The largest structural gaps are publication links and IPD statements rather than outcomes or titles.
This is the broadest view in the series: it captures information loss across the entire registry, not just among older completed trials.
IPD by class
IPD STATEMENT GAPSMissing IPD statement rate by named sponsor classNIH80.8%INDIV73.1%NETWORK67.5%INDUSTRY56.7%FED47.2%OTHER_GOV46.7%OTHER44.4%
NIH is the highest named sponsor class on IPD statement missingness, with industry also heavily affected.
Sponsor-class comparisons help show that structural loss is patterned rather than random noise across all records.
Publications by class
PUBLICATION-LINK GAPSMissing linked publication rate by named sponsor classINDUSTRY71.7%INDIV62.5%OTHER61.6%OTHER_GOV61.5%NETWORK57.9%FED55.0%NIH39.4%
Industry leads the major named classes on publication-link missingness, while NIH is much lower on this field.
Publication-link missingness affects whether readers can move from a registry record to a paper trail, which is why this field matters so much for public scrutiny.
Read Across Projects

Across The Series

Each project isolates a different dimension of registry opacity, but the point is the contrast between them, not a single leaderboard.

Industry Disclosure Gap
CT.gov Industry Disclosure Gap

A standalone E156 project on how much long-past non-disclosure and structural sparsity remain inside industry-linked ClinicalTrials.gov records.

Sponsor-Class Hiddenness
CT.gov Sponsor-Class Hiddenness

A standalone E156 project comparing sponsor classes on rate, stock, and structural sparsity rather than flattening everything into one leaderboard.

Phase Reporting Gap
CT.gov Phase Reporting Gap

A standalone E156 project on how reporting gaps change by trial phase, showing that phase structure matters alongside sponsor class.

Source on GitHub | Project home | Dashboard