StudySearch: a web-based application for posting and searching clinical research studies

Participant accrual into research studies is critical to advancing clinical and translational research to clinical care. Without sufficient recruitment, the purpose of any research study cannot be realized; yet, low recruitment and enrollment of participants persist. StudySearch is a web-based application designed to provide an easily readable, publicly accessible, and searchable listing of IRB-approved protocols that are accruing study participants. The Regulatory, Recruitment and Biomedical Informatics Cores of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) at The Ohio State University developed this research study posting platform. Postings include basic descriptive information: study title, purpose of the study, eligibility criteria and study personnel contact information. Language concerning benefits and/or inducements is not included; therefore, while IRB approval for a study to be listed on StudySearch is required, IRB approval of the posted language is not. Studies are listed by one of two methods; one automated and one manual: (1). Studies registered on ClinicalTrials.gov are automatically downloaded once a month; or (2). Studies are submitted directly by researchers to the CCTS Regulatory Core staff. In either case, final language is a result of an iterative process between researchers and CCTS staff. Deployed in January 2011 at OSU, this application has grown to approximately 200 studies currently posted and 1500 unique visitors per month. Locally, StudySearch is part of the CCTS recruitment toolkit. Features continue to be modified to better accommodate user behaviors. Nationally, this open source application is available for use.