How to Configure a ClinicalTrials.gov Feed

Last updated on July 9, 2024

Introduction

The ClinicalTrials.gov feed provides clinical studies from research institutes, hospitals, and governmental agencies worldwide. You can create, filter, and connect the feed based on your content preferences.

Connect a ClinicalTrials.gov Feed

To connect a ClinicalTrials.gov feed to your Inbox, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Inboxes and open your Inbox. Select InfoLab from the More menu on the far right in the top menu of the inbox.  
2. Click the New Feed button and select the ClinicalTrials.gov feed in the drop-down menu. This will open a new form called "New ClinicalTrials.gov Feed".

3. Enter a name for your feed. The feed name will be displayed on the InfoLab Feeds page. We recommend that the feed name include a short description of the content and the type of information.
   
   

4. Choose the target inbox for your feed. Note that if you start from an Inbox, you will not be able to select another inbox. 

5. Click the Save button. You will now be directed to the Preview and Add Filter page, where you can add filters to retrieve specific content from the ClinicalTrials.gov feed.

6. Use the Filter menu to the left to add filters to your feed. This step is very important to reduce the amount of data and ensure that the information that reaches your inbox is relevant. 

   

   • Enter keywords or phrases in the Title, Description, or Content Text filter search bars. 

   • Use the predefined filters and filter facets along with the AND, OR, and NOT operators to further refine your search. Commonly used filters are Sponsors and Collaborators in combination with Title and Description Text filter keywords. Note that filters and facets are only enabled when content matches the filters. 

   • To narrow down the search results by publication date, use the Date dropdown at the bottom of the filter menu and select the desired time period.

7. You can preview the filter result in the Preview Post list and adjust your filter options until you are satisfied with the result.  
    
   The chart above the post list displays the number of retrieved posts within the specified Time period, providing an estimate of the amount of information that your feed will generate over time. You can change the Time Period by clicking the calendar on top of the bar chart. 
   
   Red bars indicate that your feed will generate more information than is allowed in your inbox. Change your filters until the bars are all yellow.

   Read the “Filter Options” and “Best Practices” sections below for more instructions and best practices on filtering your feed. You will find more information about combining keywords and creating search strings in Help.
   
   
8. When you are satisfied with your filter, click the Save button to save your new feed. Alternatively, you can click the Next button to proceed to the Settings page.

• • On the Settings page, you can change the feed name, add a description of the feed, and change the target inbox. 

  • Optionally, Check the Restricted checkbox to prevent others from updating the feed. When restricted, a padlock icon will appear on the Feed in InfoLab. 

  • Click Save to save your changes.

Your feed is now connected to your inbox and available from the Feed page in InfoLab.

Filter Options 

This section contains detailed information about the Filter options for ClinicalTrials.gov feeds.

The filter menu offers two search options that can be combined to optimize your search results. 

These options include free text search and the ClinicalTrials.gov-specific filters. Most of the filters provide predefined facet options that you can select from to specify your filter. Note that filters and facets are only enabled when content matches the filters.

Use the AND, OR, and NOT operators to further refine your search. 

• Use the OR operator to include one or the other facet within a filter category. This gives a wide search.
• Use the AND operator to require that both facets be included within a filter category. This narrows the search.
• Use the NOT operator to exclude specified facets within a filter category.

Your search result will be displayed above the bar chart to provide an overview of your chosen filters. If you have more than four filter buttons, click the Show more button to view all filters.

If the post list view is empty, no content matches your search within the set time period or filters. Change the Time period or adjust the filters and preview the result. The default period is “Past week”.

Text Filter

The Text filter allows for free text searches. You can use a single keyword, combine several keywords, or create a complete search string. 

You can choose to search in the Title, Description, or Content depending on how wide or narrow you want your filter to be. 

Title: Only include content matching your search query in the article title. This is the narrowest text search.

Description: Search in the article Description for a broader search.

Content: Search in the full Content for the broadest search.

Predefined Filters and facets

The ClinicalTrials.gov filter menu includes a range of predefined filter and facet options. Use the filter search bar and then click on the facet buttons to set your filter.  

Interventions/Treatments: Search by a specific intervention or treatment or use the predefined facets to filter by different types of interventions and treatments. Click on “Show more” to view all the options.

Sponsors: Search by sponsors' names or use the predefined facets to filter by companies and other organizations funding the clinical trials. Click on “Show more” to view all the options. The Sponsors and Collaborators filters, together with the Text filters, are the most commonly used filter options.

Collaborators: Search by collaborators' names or use the filter facets to search on companies and organizations who are involved in the clinical trial processes. Click on “Show more” to view all the options. The Collaborators and Sponsors filters are the most used filter options with the Text filters.

Conditions/Diseases: Search by a specific condition or disease or use the predefined facets to filter by different types of conditions or diseases.  
Click on “Show more” to view all the options.

Study Status: Search using a particular study status or use the predefined facets to filter by various clinical study statuses. Click on "Show more" to see all the options. This filter is useful if you are only interested in a specific stage of clinical trials.

Study Types: Use the predefined facets to filter by the available clinical study types. This filter is useful if you are only interested in a specific study type.

Study Phases: Use the predefined facets to filter by study phases. This filter is useful if you are only interested in a specific study phase, for example, phase 1. Use the NOT Operator to exclude one or several phases.

Sex: Filter on sex to only include clinical studies on females or males. Use the NOT Operator to explicitly exclude one of the options.  

Countries: Search or use the predefined facets to filter by country. This filter is useful when you want to follow clinical studies performed in specific countries.
Click on “Show more” to view all the options. Use the NOT Operator to exclude countries.

Age: Use the Age filter to search for clinical studies on adults, older adults, or children. Use the NOT Operator to exclude one of the options.

Best Practices

This section contains best practices and commonly used filter options in the ClinicalTrials.gov feeds. For more information about filter options, read the Filter Options section above.

The list of posts that appears when you add filters allows you to preview the filters before applying them. Preview the post list to ensure that the posts retrieved by the filter meet your expectations.  

Note that the categories shown on the posts in the preview post list are only used in InfoLab and are not the same categories that appear on the posts in Inboxes. 

Text Query 

A good start when filtering content is to start with a text query. 

You can use one single keyword or several keywords or create a complete search string. You can read more about how to combine keywords and create search strings in Help.

Depending on how wide or narrow the search you would like to do, you can search in the Title, in the Description, or in the full Content.

Commonly used filters and Recommendations

The Collaborators and Sponsors filters, together with the Text filters, are the most used filter options, and they are a good start for your search.

We recommend that you start by adding a text query (one or several keywords or a search string) in the Title + Description text bars in combination with the Collaborators and/or Sponsors filter. 

You can further refine your search by using additional filters and facets, such as study status or study phases, to filter for a specific clinical trial phase. 

Preview the result and optionally use additional filters and facets to refine your search. 

Good to Know

Time Period

When choosing the Time Period for the preview post list, you have the option of selecting from the past 24 hours, the past week, or the past month. The default time period is the past week.

Storage

Data from ClinicalTrial.gov feeds will be kept in InfoLab forever or until the feed is actively deleted from InfoLab.  

Max Number of Posts

If your filter retrieves more posts than allowed for this feed in InfoLab, the chart bars will turn red, and you will be prompted to adjust your filter.

Note that the maximum number of posts accepted in Inboxes is 100 posts per day.

Categories Displayed on Posts

The categories shown on the posts in the preview post list on the Preview and filter page in InfoLab are only used in InfoLab and will not follow the posts to the Inboxes.

Text Query Highlights

Words matching the text query keywords are highlighted in the title and article content in the preview post list to assist you in reviewing the articles and their relevance.

Preview and filter a ClinicalTrials.gov Feed

All your connected feeds are available in InfoLab Feeds. 

You can open a ClinicalTrials.gov feed in InfoLab to preview the feed and add more filters on top of the original search criteria.

To preview and filter a ClinicalTrials.gov feed, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to InfoLab from the main navigation bar. You can also start from your Inbox and select InfoLab from the More menu on the far right in the top menu of the inbox.
2. To find your feed, simply use the search bar at the top of the InfoLab Feed page. 
3. Click on the feed name to open the Preview and add filter page, where you can access the filter menu and a list of posts that allow you to preview the filters before applying them.
   
4. The filter menu offers two search options that can be combined to optimize your search results. These options include a free text search and ClinicalTrials.gov-specific filters and facets.
   • To search for specific keywords or phrases, use the search bars under the Text section, which includes Title, Description, and Content.
   • To narrow down the search, use the facets under the ClinicalTrials.gov filters along with the AND, OR, and NOT operators to further refine your search. Note that the filters and facets are only enabled when content matches the filters.
5. Review the filter result and adjust your filter options until you are satisfied with the result available in the preview post list. When ready, click Next or the Settings tab.
6. On the Settings page, you can change the name and description of your updated feed and select another target inbox.
7. Optionally, Check the Restricted checkbox to prevent others from updating the feed. When restricted, a padlock icon will appear on the feed in InfoLab.
8. Press Save to save the updated feed.

Manage ClinicalTrials.gov Feeds

You can manage all your feeds from the InfoLab Feeds page. 

To manage your feeds, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the InfoLab Feeds page from the main menu or start from your Inbox and select InfoLab from the More menu. 
2. Use the search bar at the top of the page to find your feed.
3. Click the Menu button to the far right on the feed row to open the menu.
4. Select Edit to open the Preview and Add Filter page and edit the feed. In the "Preview and filter" section, you can find more instructions on how to edit a feed.
5. Select Set Automatic Categorization to tag all posts from this feed automatically. Use the search bar or open the taxonomy to find and select categories. Press Save.
6. Select Deactivate to pause your feed. A pause button will appear on the feed, and the feed will stop retrieving posts to your inbox. Clicking Activate in the feed menu will reactivate the feed.
7. To change the inbox where the feed is directed, click on Select Inbox and select another inbox.
8. Select Delete to delete the feed from InfoLab.