# Deposit trial results as structured data, not just PDFs

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-structured-trial-results-deposit/  
OnCo record `idea-data-structured-trial-results-deposit` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Trial results (hazard ratios, confidence intervals, subgroups, toxicities) would be deposited in a computer-readable form so they can be pooled, checked and used by software immediately.

## Summary

ClinicalTrials.gov results reporting is structured but coarse; journal articles are unstructured; Kaplan-Meier curves are images. The proposal requires deposition of a structured results package (primary and secondary endpoints with estimates and intervals, digitised survival curves or individual patient time-to-event data, subgroup tables, adverse events by grade in CTCAE codes) in a standard schema at publication, enabling automated meta-analysis and living guidelines.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: Structured results deposition will make automated living meta-analysis possible for more than 80 percent of new phase 3 oncology trials and will reduce transcription errors in systematic reviews.
- Rationale: Extraction from PDFs is the main cost and error source in evidence synthesis; every downstream use (living reviews, guidelines, knowledge graphs, decision support) is faster if results are born structured.
- Proposed test: Define the schema; require it for one year in two journals; measure the share of trials complying and the time to update a living review using the structured data versus PDF extraction.
- Maturity: early-clinical
- Actor: policy

## Sources

- Bottleneck evidence (Knowledge reaches practice too slowly): Morris, Wooding & Grant, The answer is 17 years, what is the question (JRSM 2011): https://doi.org/10.1258/jrsm.2011.110180

## Connected records

- collections: [ClinicalTrials.gov](https://onco.cc/collections/clinicaltrials-gov/)
- ideas: [End the abstract-to-paper gap: require full results with any conference presentation](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-full-data-with-abstract/), [Funded living systematic reviews for every major cancer indication](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-funded-living-systematic-reviews/)
- fronts: [AI & Computation](https://onco.cc/fronts/ai-computation/)
- terms: [Hazard ratio (HR)](https://onco.cc/terms/hazard-ratio/), [Overall survival (OS)](https://onco.cc/terms/os/), [Progression-free survival (PFS)](https://onco.cc/terms/pfs/)
- bottlenecks: [Failures are hidden](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-negative-results/), [Knowledge reaches practice too slowly](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-knowledge-diffusion/)
- key papers: [The answer is 17 years, what is the question: understanding time lags in translational research](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-morris-j-r-soc-med/)

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