How to Import Records from ClinicalTrials.gov into Papers

This article provides instructions on how to import records from the U.S. National Library of Medicine ClinicalTrials.gov into Papers using the report format. This database doesn’t match to any of the current publication types so we will treat it like a website and map the needed ClinicalTrials.gov fields to the citation fields in Papers.

Here is an example of a record from ClinicalTrials.gov using the the NLM citation guidelines:

Cannon R. Rilonacept to improve artery function in patients with atherosclerosis. 2006 Dec 29 [last updated 2012 Apr 25; results first received 2009 Sep 14; cited 2015 Apr 25]. In: ClinicalTrials.gov [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): U.S. National Library of Medicine. 2000 –   . Available from: http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00417417 ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00417417.

First, use ClinicalTrials.gov to locate and select clinical trials using the search interface:

Mark the records you wish to export and click the “Download” button:

On the download screen, select “CSV” for “File Format” and the following data fields: NCT Number, Study Title, Brief Summary, Sponsor, Collaborators, First Posted date:

Open the .CSV file in your spreadsheet software (e.g. Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers) and map the columns to the correct fields in ReadCube. Change:

  • NCT Number -> publication title
  • Study Title -> title
  • Brief Summary -> abstract
  • Sponsor -> contributor
  • Collaborators -> author
  • First Posted -> date

Then, create two new columns with the data as shown below:

  • “access date” = today’s date  (i.e., the date that you saved the ClinicalTrials.gov record)
  • “type” = webpage

Save this spreadsheet as a “.CSV” and open the desktop version of Papers.

Go to File -> Import -> .CSV, choose the newly saved .CSV, and select the desired destination

The clinical trials will be imported as new website references in Papers and you can then edit the individual records if you need to add or correct any information.

Helpful Tip: If there are additional data from the ClinicalTrials.gov database that you would like to export, you can map it to any of these Papers fields listed here.  

You may also wish to consult this guide to importing and exporting .CSV files with Papers.

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