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Abstract

The importance of primary care research in building the evidence base for clinical management and service delivery is now widely accepted, as demonstrated by the growth of university departments of primary care and family medicine around the world. The strength of primary care research is evident in its contribution to primary care research networks and databases and in the quality of research produced by primary care researchers and published in primary care research journals. In the UK, the Academy of Medical Sciences' publication Research in General Practice: Bringing Innovation into Patient Care provides a valuable overview of the field.1 A benchmarking exercise carried out by Hobbs and colleagues on behalf of the Society for Academic Primary Care analysed research output in terms of peer-reviewed, indexed papers from primary care departments in the UK, Netherlands, and North America, and it confirmed the health and strength of the discipline (FDR Hobbs, personal communication, 2010). The Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy, funded by the Australian Government, was initiated in 2000 to improve Australia's capacity to produce high quality primary healthcare research.2 In addition, the international political and financial climate, with an imperative to work more effectively and collaboratively, offers further opportunities for primary care researchers to test and evaluate …