Definition of RCT Code:

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME) has established a requirement that all randomized clinical trials (RCT) be entered in a public registry before the onset of patient enrollment, as a condition of consideration for publication. The definition of a clinical trial as established by the ICMJE is any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention and comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome.

RCT Code is required in all Briefland Journals

All Briefland journals require registration of randomized clinical trials in such public trial registries as those of the National Institutes of Health and the International Standard Randomized Controlled Trials.

• All Clinical trials must have an NCT registration code or IRCT code or other similar codes.

The RCT code will be included in the identifier number in Clinical Trial articles. This rule is concluded from ICMJE website for their editorial and updates on the topic of registering clinical trials before the publication of the results. The ICMJE recommends that the clinical trial registration number be included at the end of the abstract. A sample of general display format for the code obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov is: an alphabetic label of ClinicalTrials.gov followed by a slash and then an 11-digit alphanumeric string starting with NCT followed by eight numbers.

• Clinical Trial Code is required only for clinical trial studies (RCT) and interventional studies. Without RCT Code, we will NOT be able to accept your article. If your study is not an interventional study, simply ignore this step.
• This code must be linked to the official website of the registrar.
  •  Correct:
    • Clinical Trial Code: NCT00000161 (Link: https://ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT00000161) 
  •  Wrong (because this code is NOT linked to its webpage): 
    • Clinical Trial Code: NCT00000161.

Where can I register my RCT?

ClinicalTrials.gov or similar registries provide a vehicle that allows organizations and individuals to provide the data requested by ICMJE, which has adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) minimal registration data set. Briefland Journals accept registration in the following registries:

1. www.irct.ir
2. www.actr.org.au
3. www.clinicaltrials.gov
4. www.ISRCTN.org
5. www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index/htm
6. www.trialregister.nl

Which phases of RCT are required to be registered?

The Phase III trials must be registered, and phase II trials are appropriate to register. Most phase I trials do not need to be registered. Please clearly state in the Methods section of the manuscript the trial registration number including where the registration is publicly available. Visit the website of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) for more information.

More information:

• http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/clinical-trials-registration/
• Primary Registries in the WHO Registry Network