Cite the record behind your statement
ClinicalTrials.gov AMA Citation with NCT Numbers and Record Dates
Follow a real ACTT registration to separate NCT identifiers, record dates, posted results, and linked journal publications.
For a ClinicalTrials.gov AMA citation, start with the registry record that supports your sentence. The ACTT registration makes the date problem easy to see. The study finished in May 2020, summary results appeared in September 2020, and the record was last updated in March 2022. We checked those fields against the public record and East Carolina University’s AMA 11 guide. The example below keeps each date attached to the event it describes.
Choose the registry record or the published study
Begin with the sentence you need to support. A statement about registered eligibility criteria sends readers to the registration. A statement about numbers reported in a journal article sends them to that article. If you compare planned outcomes with published outcomes, readers need references to both sources.
ClinicalTrials.gov separates protocol registration information from posted summary results. NLM explains that Study Details summarizes registration information, while Researcher View exposes the individual protocol fields. The Results Posted tab displays submitted summary results when available. Check the relevant tab before taking notes.
The ACTT registration, NCT04280705, also links to Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19 - Final Report. That publication has PMID 32445440 and DOI 10.1056/NEJMoa2007764. These identifiers retrieve the paper. The NCT identifier retrieves the trial registration. Copying a linked paper into your bibliography changes the source a reader will reach.
Locate the NCT identifier and responsible party
Open the full study record and copy the NCT number exactly, including leading zeros. For ACTT, the record also carries the organization study ID 20-0006. Keep that local protocol number separate from NCT04280705 in your notes. Search the full NCT number once more before submitting your paper to catch a mismatched title or URL.
For author attribution, inspect the organization and sponsor information. ACTT lists the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as lead sponsor and identifies the sponsor as the responsible party. The example uses that institution as the associated group. Do not transfer the journal article’s author list into the registration reference.
ECU’s AMA guide permits a title-first reference when no author or associated group is available. Avoid assigning authorship to a study contact simply because a name appears beside an email address. Record the attribution you used so you can explain it during revision.
| Field | Verified record value | Use in your reference notes |
|---|---|---|
| Brief title | Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT) | Keep the selected title consistent |
| Registry identifier | NCT04280705 | Include the full NCT number |
| Lead sponsor / responsible party | NIAID / Sponsor | Check associated group attribution |
| Organization study ID | 20-0006 | Keep separate from the NCT identifier |
| First posted | February 21, 2020 | Initial public posting |
| Results first posted | September 25, 2020 | Public posting of summary results |
| Last update posted | March 14, 2022 | Update date used below |
| Accessed | October 23, 2026 | Date this example was checked |
Record posted, updated, and accessed dates
The ACTT record was first submitted on February 20, 2020, and first posted on February 21. Its last update was submitted on March 9, 2022, then posted on March 14. When you label a reference with the posted update, use March 14. Submission and public posting are distinct events.
The same record gives February 21, 2020, as the actual study start date and May 21, 2020, as the actual completion date. Those fields describe study activity. Putting the completion date after “Updated” would mislabel the reference even though the date came from the correct page.
Use the day you actually viewed the source for “Accessed.” In this worked example that is October 23, 2026. Replace it when preparing your own reference. A fresh access date does not change the record’s posted update date.
Worked AMA clinical trial registry citation
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT). ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04280705. Updated March 14, 2022. Accessed October 23, 2026. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04280705
Uses the brief title, associated sponsor group, and Last Update Posted date from the checked record.
Verify the record version behind your statement
Open Record History when your sentence concerns what was registered at an earlier point. Find the version relevant to your question and inspect the fields supporting your statement. Today’s entry alone cannot establish what its eligibility criteria or outcome wording said before recruitment. The version date belongs in your notes even when the current and historical titles match.
Save the selected version’s date and any version-specific link provided by the site in your research notes. When your discussion depends on that historical version, identify it clearly and follow your journal’s instructions for including version information in the reference. Keep the access date alongside the historical version information so readers can distinguish the two.
For posted results, note which results section you read. For a linked publication, open the paper and confirm its title and identifiers independently. NLM notes that the Publications section can include listed publications or links to PubMed. A missing section alone cannot establish that no paper exists.
Use the generator as a draft and check the identifier
AMA Cite has a Database Entry form with author, entry title, database name, publisher, updated date, access date, and URL fields. It has no dedicated registry identifier field. You can reuse those shared fields for a draft, then check the exported reference against the worked example.
In the finished text, verify that ClinicalTrials.gov identifier is followed by the complete NCT number. Check the date labels and group name manually. For website date conventions, the website citation guide provides the broader rules. Other trial registries require their own identifiers and source checks.
Does an NCT number replace an AMA reference?
Give readers a complete reference when the registry record supports your text. An NCT number in a sentence helps identify the trial, but it leaves out the record date and access information. Reuse the same numbered AMA reference when citing the same source again; assign a separate entry to a journal article you also use.