It is a good practice requirement that all research is registered in a public research register before it starts. The UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research says:
In order to avoid waste, information about research projects (other than those for educational purposes) is made publicly available before they start (unless a deferral is agreed by or on behalf of the Research Ethics Committee).
For clinical trials (CTIMPs, clinical investigations of medical devices, clinical trials of novel interventions or randomised clinical trials to compare interventions in clinical practice), not registering within six weeks of recruiting the first patient is a breach of approval conditions, unless a deferral has been agreed by or on behalf of the Research Ethics Committee.
For further information about registration requirements, and how to request a deferral, see research registration and research project identifiers.
Publication of Research Summaries
We publish details of all research reviewed by REC or which apply for HRA approval in the UK in the research summaries section of our website. This includes information about the planned research, a summary of the research as submitted to the REC and the REC’s opinion.
We also publish details of all applications approved by the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) in the CAG registry. This contains summary information about the activity, details of the identifiers approved and applicant contact details.