Site Operations
Before the first visit: a regulatory readiness checklist
A practical research-site activation checklist covering responsibilities, approvals, consent, staff training, systems, and study-specific readiness.
The reading room.
Practical guidance, thoughtful perspectives, and a closer look at the work of clinical research.
26 articles
Starting a Site
How much does it cost to start a clinical research site?
Build a realistic research-site startup budget by separating opening costs, monthly expenses, sponsor receipts, payment delays, and cash reserves.
Starting a Site
Is your medical practice ready to start clinical research?
A practical readiness guide for physicians adding research to an existing practice: investigator time, staffing, patient access, space, and support.
Site Operations
How to write clinical research SOPs staff can actually follow
Create site-specific SOPs with clear responsibilities, decision points, records, training, version control, and practical checks against real workflows.
Recruitment
Patient retention starts before the first missed visit
Build a practical retention workflow around clear expectations, visit planning, communication preferences, timely follow-up, and voluntary participation.
Industry Insights
Removing practical barriers to clinical research participation
A practical framework for identifying research access barriers, assigning responsibility, testing improvements, and measuring whether access actually improves.
Site Operations
Clinical trial management: a practical weekly operating rhythm
Organize research-site work with clear owners, visit preparation, risk review, data follow-up, sponsor communication, and a short weekly management routine.
Starting a Site
How to start a clinical research site: the operating roadmap
A step-by-step research-site startup roadmap covering business model, investigators, budget, facilities, quality systems, study fit, and activation.
Recruitment
Patient recruitment strategies: choosing channels that fit the study
Compare referrals, practice outreach, community relationships, and digital advertising using eligibility, participant needs, response capacity, and conversion data.
Industry Insights
Clinical trial industry trends: questions that matter at site level
Evaluate clinical research trends through practical questions about quality, decentralized activities, technology, participant burden, and site capacity.
Recruitment
Recruitment data that helps a site make better decisions
Define your recruitment funnel, calculate useful conversion rates, and distinguish a planning estimate from a defensible enrollment forecast.
Recruitment
Recruitment technology: what to test before you buy
A practical evaluation framework for recruitment software, covering workflow, privacy, integrations, human review, and usable reporting.
Site Operations
Research software should solve a visible operating problem
A grounded approach to evaluating site operations software, with clear workflows, accountable owners, and evidence of useful improvement.
Site Operations
Participant-centered trials: make the visit plan understandable
Practical ways to examine visit burden, improve communication, and include participant priorities without promising better outcomes.
Industry Insights
Trial inclusion begins with examining who can realistically take part
A practical framework for identifying access barriers and broadening research conversations without tokenism or unsupported claims.
Recruitment
Recruitment is a chain of handoffs. Make each one clear.
How sites, sponsors, and referral partners can define recruitment responsibilities and plan around real screening capacity.
For Patients
Questions to ask before joining a clinical trial
A practical conversation guide covering the purpose of research, possible risks, treatment options, visits, costs, and your right to choose.
For Patients
Informed consent: a conversation before a decision
What informed consent means, what to look for in a study discussion, and how to ask for clear answers before deciding about research.
For Patients
Planning for clinical trial visits: time, travel, and everyday life
A simple way to discuss the practical demands of trial participation, including visit length, travel, work, caregiving, and questions about costs.
For Patients
How to find a clinical trial and check what the listing means
Where to begin a clinical trial search, how to read a study listing, and what to confirm with the research team before making plans.
Industry Insights
Decentralized clinical trials: a practical operating guide
Understand decentralized trial elements, remote visit responsibilities, participant support, and how to evaluate decentralized clinical trial companies.
Site Operations
Clinical data management: from a protocol question to usable data
A practical overview of clinical data management, covering data definitions, entry, queries, reconciliation, review, and responsibilities.
Site Operations
Clinical trial management system: what a site actually needs
A practical CTMS selection guide covering study setup, visit tracking, finances, permissions, integrations, and realistic implementation costs.
Industry Insights
How to compare clinical research companies by the work you need
Understand the differences between sites, CROs, sponsors, networks, and technology vendors before comparing clinical trial companies.
Recruitment
Clinical trial recruitment companies: a practical comparison framework
Compare recruitment partners using funnel definitions, permitted outreach, site capacity, reporting, privacy, and transparent commercial terms.
Industry Insights
Clinical trial software companies: compare workflows, not feature counts
A buyer guide to CTMS, EDC, eSource, recruitment, and decentralized trial software with practical evaluation questions and implementation checks.