Read a clinical trial report section by section, with the source a click away
A clinical trial report is long and tightly structured: who was enrolled, how they were randomized, what was measured, what happened and what harms were recorded, often with key details in tables or appendices. Put the report PDF in a Search+ workspace, ask about each part in plain language, and open the cited passage to read exactly what the investigators reported.
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Last updated October 2026
How to read a trial report with Search+
- Upload the report and the protocol if you have it
Add the trial report or journal article. If the protocol, statistical analysis plan or supplementary appendix is available, add it too, whether it is a PDF or a Word document, since many design details are only there.
- State what you are checking
Use Workspace Context for your purpose, for example "I am checking whether the reported primary outcome matches the protocol; quote numbers exactly as written". Search+ applies it to each question.
- Ask part by part
Ask about the population, then the intervention and comparator, then the outcomes and harms. Open each citation to see the sentence or table text the answer came from.
Questions readers ask about a trial report
Who was eligible, how many were randomized, and how many completed the trial?
What did the control group receive, placebo or an existing treatment, and at what dose?
What was the primary endpoint, when was it measured, and what result does the report give for it?
Which adverse events were reported more often in the treatment arm, and how were serious events defined?
How many participants withdrew from each arm, and what reasons does the report give?
Does the report give a trial registration number, and does it mention changes to the protocol?
What reading a clinical trial report needs
Reports of randomized trials commonly follow reporting guidance such as CONSORT, with set places for the participant flow, the outcomes and the harms. Ask for the participant flow first; it tells you who the results describe.
Outcomes, analyses or sample sizes are sometimes changed after a trial starts. Comparing the report with the registered protocol is how readers spot this, so ask about each and compare the cited passages.
A result can be reported as a relative change, an absolute difference or both. Ask for every form the report gives, and read them in the cited text.
Baseline characteristics, harms by arm and subgroup results are often in tables or appendices. Ask for the figure you need, then check it against the table in the report, because AI answers can misread dense tables.
Each answer cites the supporting excerpt, with a page or section reference when the report provides one, and Search+ does not invent locations the document does not contain.
Search+ reads scanned reports with OCR, which helps with older trials archived as page images. Faint or skewed scans can garble a number, so verify figures in the cited excerpt against the original.
Sections of a trial report and what to ask
| Section | What it usually covers | A question to ask Search+ |
|---|---|---|
| Background and objectives | Why the trial was run and its hypothesis | What question was this trial designed to answer? |
| Methods: design | Randomization, blinding, arms, setting | How were participants allocated, and who was blinded? |
| Methods: participants | Eligibility criteria and recruitment | What were the main exclusion criteria? |
| Methods: outcomes | Primary and secondary endpoints, timing | Which outcome was primary, and when was it assessed? |
| Results: participant flow | Screened, randomized, analyzed, lost | How many participants were analyzed in each arm? |
| Results: outcomes | Effect estimates and their precision | What does the report give for the primary endpoint? |
| Harms | Adverse events by arm and severity | How many serious adverse events occurred in each arm? |
| Discussion and limitations | Interpretation and weaknesses | What limitations do the authors acknowledge? |
What is a clinical trial report?
A clinical trial report is a document that describes how a clinical study of an intervention was designed and run and what it found, including the participants, the outcomes measured, the results and the adverse events. It may be a journal article, a registry results summary or a full clinical study report.
Clinical trial report questions
Can Search+ summarize a clinical trial report?
Can it find the numbers for the primary outcome?
Can it compare the report with the trial protocol?
Does it tell me whether a treatment works for me?
What if the report is a scanned copy?
Can an answer miss something in the report?
Read what the trial actually reported
Start a workspace, upload the report and its protocol, and ask about each section in turn.
Start a workspace