Summary
Objectives: To summarize advances of excellent current research in the new emerging field of
Clinical Research Informatics.
Method: Synopsis of four key articles selected for the IMIA Yearbook 2013. The selection
was performed by querying PubMed and Web of Science with predefined keywords. From
the original set of 590 papers, a first subset of 461 articles which was in the scope
of Clinical Research Informatics was refined into a second subset of 79 relevant articles
from which 15 articles were retained for peer-review.
Results: The four selected articles exemplify current research efforts conducted in the areas
of data representation and management in clinical trials, secondary use of EHR data
for clinical research, information technology platforms for translational and comparative
effectiveness research and implementation of privacy control.
Conclusions: The selected articles not only illustrate how innovative information technology supports
classically organized randomized controlled trials but also demonstrate that the long
promised benefits of electronic health care data for research are becoming a reality
through concrete platforms and projects.
Keywords
Medical informatics - Biomedical Research - Epidemiologic Study Characteristics as
Topic - Evaluation Studies as Topic - Patient Selection