Populating an International Web-Based Randomized Trials Register in the Social, Behavioral, Criminological, and Education Sciences

Abstract

Underlying the work of the Campbell Collaboration (C2) is the Sociological, Psychological, Educational, and Criminological Trials Register (C2-SPECTR). A Web-accessible database, C2-SPECTR is unique in the world. With more than 11,600 citations, it is an international register on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or possible trials. This article describes the framework for populating C2-SPECTR, other registers that are prospective, and the practical issues of implementation. The authors discuss the growing importance of RCTs and the recent histories of organizations that have influenced this growth—the Cochrane Collaboration, the C2, and the What Works Clearinghouse. Next, the authors describe the origins of C2-SPECTR and plans to populate it and a prospective register. The authors conclude with plans for implementing the surveillance systems and the anticipated challenges in actualizing these plans.