How to Read Research Library Records: Sources, Status and What a Connection Means

The short answer

A Research Library record is a starting point. It tells you that a name, an identifier or a study exists and which other records it connects to. It does not tell you that something works, that it is safe, or that anyone has checked it. Read each record by asking four things: where did it come from, what is its status, how was each connection made, and what do the linked studies actually say.

Where a record comes from

The library holds imported records. They came from public databases and ontologies, and none has been reviewed by a clinician. An ontology is a standardized vocabulary that describes things and the relationships between them. [1] Using shared vocabularies makes it possible to line up records from different sources, but it does not make the content of those sources correct.

Records have names, identifiers and linked study records. Most have no written summary. When a page does include editorial writing, treat that as a separate layer from the imported data: one is a copy of what a source database says, the other is a written interpretation.

Status labels

The verification states shown are "imported" (the default) and, where a page says so, "editorially checked." No record claims medical review. Imported means the data was brought in from a source and has not been independently confirmed here. For the longer explanation, see Evidence Labels and Verification Status.

What a connection means

Connections between records come in three kinds. They are not equal in strength.

The library shows connections; it does not rate effectiveness. A record with many connections is not better studied or more effective than one with few. Often a long list simply reflects how many databases include the name.

Reading study records

Study records are of three types: registered clinical trials, systematic-review registrations and publication records. A registered trial or review registration describes planned or ongoing work unless it is completed, and it carries no result in the library. Registered trials include some that are recruiting, active, terminated, withdrawn, suspended or unknown, so the status matters.

A trial's phase is recorded for about two thirds of trials; the rest have no phase. Phases describe the stage of testing. FDA describes Phase 1 as early, small-scale studies and Phase 3 as late-stage, large-scale studies. [2] A phase is not a measure of quality or of success.

Publication records carry a PubMed ID and an abstract. PubMed provides citations and abstracts and does not include full journal articles. [3] An abstract is a short summary, so for anything that matters, read the full paper. Research model labels (human, animal, cell) come from the source data. About 2,717 publication records are labeled animal experiments, 2,394 cell experiments, 1,360 animal and cell experiments and 116 clinical experiments. Animal and cell research is not human evidence, and the label is a first filter, not a verdict.

A short reading routine

1. Check the status label and whether any editorial note exists.
2. Check what kind of connection brought you to a link.
3. For a study, note whether it is a registration, a completed study or a publication, and the research model.
4. Open the source paper if a decision depends on it.
5. For personal health questions, speak with a clinician. See Natural Remedy Safety.

Common misunderstandings

• Connected means related in a meaningful way. Some links are name matches.
• Imported means verified. It does not.
• Completed means positive. Completed describes status. NCCIH points out that the "gold standard" for testing in people is a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, which compares a test group with a control group. [4] Many records do not tell you whether a study had that design.

Related pages

See the full Research Library overview, How to Use the Research Library and the Research Library Glossary.