Reporting guideline for priority setting of health research (REPRISE)

Sally Crowe,Sophie Hill,Jonathan C. Craig,Katherine Cowan,Amanda Baumgart,Soumyadeep Bhaumik,Andrea Matus,Talia Gutman,Sandy Oliver,Mona Nasser,Nicole Scholes-Robertson,Anneliese Synnot,Allison Tong

doi:10.1186/s12874-019-0889-3

Abstract

BackgroundResearch priority setting with stakeholders can help direct the limited resources for health research toward priority areas of need. Ensuring transparency of the priority setting process can strengthen legitimacy and credibility for influencing the research agenda. This study aims to develop a reporting guideline for priority setting of health research.MethodsWe searched electronic databases and relevant websites for sources (frameworks, guidelines, or models for conducting, appraising, reporting or evaluating health research priority setting, and reviews (including systematic reviews)), and primary studies of research priority setting to July 2019. We inductively developed a list of reporting items and piloted the preliminary guideline with a diverse range of 30 priority setting studies from the records retrieved.ResultsFrom 21,556 records, we included 26 sources for the candidate REPRISE framework and 455 primary research studies. The REporting guideline for PRIority SEtting of health research (REPRISE) has 31 reporting items that cover 10 domains: context and scope, governance and team, framework for priority setting, stakeholders/participants, identification and collection of priorities, prioritization of research topics, output, evaluation and feedback, translation and implementation, and funding and conflict of interest. Each reporting item includes a descriptor and examples.ConclusionsThe REPRISE guideline can facilitate comprehensive reporting of studies of research priority setting. Improved transparency in research priority setting may strengthen the acceptability and implementation of the research priorities identified, so that efforts and funding are invested in generating evidence that is of importance to all stakeholders.Trial registrationNot applicable.

Highlights

Research priority setting with stakeholders can help direct the limited resources for health research toward priority areas of need
REPRISE development We used the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) toolkit [30], for developing the REPRISE Guideline and reported our approach based on the “Guidance for developers of health research reporting guidelines” where possible [31]
From the 21,556 records retrieved, we identified 13 frameworks or guidelines for conducting or evaluating research priority guidelines [5, 13, 18,19,20, 28, 36,37,38,39,40,41,42], and 13 reviews of research priority setting [15,16,17, 21,22,23,24,25,26,27, 32, 43, 44], of which four were systematic reviews [23,24,25,26]. (Additional file 3) We identified 455 primary research priority setting studies

Summary

Introduction

Research priority setting with stakeholders can help direct the limited resources for health research toward priority areas of need. Involving stakeholders in an explicit manner in research priority setting can help to: 1) ensure that funding decisions and research meet critical evidence gaps to inform decision making; 2) facilitate shared responsibility and accountability in implementing the research agenda; 3) improve the relevance and legitimacy of research; and 4) achieve better health outcomes [12, 17]. While there is no consensus on what constitutes “successful” research priority setting, it has been advocated that processes must be fair, legitimate, informed by credible evidence, involve a broad spectrum of stakeholders, and be transparent [12, 13, 18,19,20]

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