The ISRCTN Register: achievements and challenges 8 years on

The ISRCTN register has been operational for the past 8 years and is approaching 10,000 trial records. It complies with international guidelines and pools its data in the International Trial Search Portal initiated by the World Health Organisation. Through its ongoing collaboration with the Department of Health in England, the register has been able to participate in a national initiative aiming to bring clinical trials to the attention of a wider public with the objective of maximising participation. As part of BioMed Central, the register provides the first step in the concept of threaded publications, enabling the tracking of clinical research studies from inception and the linking of all resulting publications including the raw data where this is available.