The pharmaceutical research industry has seen a recent explosion of publications and conferences focused on decentralized and digital clinical trials. If you search the terms “decentralized versus digital clinical trials,” however, the results will overwhelmingly relate to decentralized clinical studies, as if “digital trial” were not a discreet category. Decentralized and digital clinical trials are are two different things. Digital trials can be decentralized. And decentralized trials can use digital tools. But the terms describe different concepts. Let’s look at the differences.