Schizophrenia Register of Randomized Controlled Trials (SchiRRaCT)

Formerly known as Cochrane Schizophrenia Group’s Study-Based Register of Randomized Controlled Trials, this database contains all randomized controlled trials related to people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizotypy, schizophreniform, delusional disorders, auditory hallucinations (hearing voices), akathisia, tardive dyskinesia, non-affected psychosis, persistent audio-visual hallucinations, serious mental illness, dual diagnosis, poorly defined serious mental illness, the population at risk of psychosis, their carers, and healthcare professionals, or stigma against these patients. Since it is a Study-Based Register, all reports of the study are linked to the study to provide an accurate number of studies related to one review, minimizing overcounting and undercounting errors and maximizing the relevancy check ability.

The database has been compiled based on:

  • Systematic searches of major databases (MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, CENTRAL, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, ClinicalTrials.gov, and WHO ICTRP),
  • Email alerts for update searches,
  • Searching for grey literature,
  • Hand-searching of journals and conference proceedings,
  • Checking references of relevant papers and their citations; and
  • Contacting the researchers, organizations, and companies.

There are no limitations to the language, publication date, document type (article, thesis, conference abstracts, etc.), trial status (planned, ongoing, completed, terminated), or publication status (published/unpublished).

This register contains 30,116 reports for 20,316 coded studies (January 24, 2024).

All reports of controlled trials relevant to the scope of this group (whether randomization is described or implied) are acquired, coded, and included in this Study-Based Register. This register, therefore, contains some quasi-randomized studies and trials that do not make the allocation procedure explicit. Currently, it also contains controlled studies where physiological outcomes are recorded in preference to clinical outcomes. It does not contain studies where a before-and-after or single-group design has been used.

The register is maintained using MeerKat 1.6, which stores references as studies, and it gets updated frequently. Because of copyrighted materials, lack of technological support for some languages, such as the Chinese language, and lack of study-based register functions, CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) covers only about 20% of this register’s references.

How to cite the Schizophrenia Register of Randomized Controlled Trials (SchiRRaCT)

To cite the register in general, please cite references 1, 2, 3, and 6 from the following list. If your review is related to pharmacological interventions, you can additionally cite reference 4. Finally, if your review is related to psychological interventions, please cite reference 5 as well.

  1. Shokraneh F, CE Adams. Study-Based Registers of Randomized Controlled Trials: Starting a Systematic Review with Data Extraction or Meta-Analysis. BioImpacts 2017; 7(4): 209–217. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15171/bi.2017.25
  2. Shokraneh F, CE Adams. Study-Based Registers Reduce Waste in Systematic Reviewing: Discussion and Case Report. Systematic Reviews 2019; 8: 129. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-019-1035-3
  3. Shokraneh F, CE Adams. Cochrane Schizophrenia Group’s Study-Based Register of Randomized Controlled Trials: Development and Content Analysis. Schizophrenia Bulletin Open 2020; 1(1): sgaa061. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/schizbullopen/sgaa061
  4. Shokraneh F, CE Adams. Classification of All Pharmacological Interventions Tested in Trials Relevant to People with Schizophrenia: A Study‐Based Analysis. Health Information and Libraries Journal 2023; 40(2): 201-216. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12366
  5. Roberts MT, Shokraneh F, Sun Y, Groom M, Adams CE. Classification of Psychotherapy Interventions for People with Schizophrenia: Development of the Nottingham Classification of Psychotherapies. Evidence-Based Mental Health 2021; 24: 62-69. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/ebmental-2020-300151
  6. Shokraneh F. Study-Based Registers of Randomised Controlled Trials: The Premise and Increasing Sophistication of Data Supply for Evidence Synthesis [PhD Dissetation]. School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK; 2020.