Background: The HarmoniSR working Group was formed initially to try and standardise the format of trial registry records in the Cochrane Register of Studies (CRS). It became apparent that this work could not be done in isolation of the study record, therefore the remit of the Group expanded to encompass mappings for CRS study records, as well as other types of reference record where there is variation in mapping and content of fields. This work is important for other Cochrane initiatives such as the Linked Data project and the development of CRS Web and CRS-D.
Objectives:
1. To develop guidance for the formatting of reference records in CRS, in particular, problematic records such as trial registry records and conference abstracts.
2. To develop a core set of study fields, consistent with the fields in the Linked Data PICO (patient, intervention, comparator, outcome) annotator, which we can recommend people use when populating their study records in the CRS.
Methods: An initial consultation document was sent to the members of the HarmoniSR working group that detailed each field that was currently imported from CT.gov and which field it mapped to in a CRS record. This document was commented on and revised over several rounds of consultation. Following this, there have been webinars, presentations, and workshops at Cochrane meetings looking at both reference and study records.
Results: In March 2015, we sent out suggested mappings for four reference types, and a proposed set of core study fields to the whole Trials Search Co-ordinator (TSC) community for comment. We sought feedback from Metaxis on the technical feasibility of implementing any recommendations.
Conclusions: We will present recommendations for the format mapping of reference records, and core study fields, note any outstanding issues, and outline next steps for the project.