Research Mentor: A Web-Based Resource Supporting Grantsmanship and Scientific Publication

Abstract

As the largest physician-owned private multispecialty healthcare practice in central and northern Wisconsin and one of the largest in the nation, Marshfield Clinic has a long-standing track record in scientific research to support its healthcare mission. The Clinic’s staff of 790 physicians serves over 40 regional centers in a largely rural setting in 80 clinical specialties and undertakes research in a broad range of disciplines. In addition, the Clinic’s Research Foundation employs a staff of scientists who collaborate with clinician investigators. A rich research environment pervades the Marshfield system, supported by a state-of-the-art informatics environment, access to an epidemiologically-defined study population for which detailed medical and demographic data are available, with its status as the largest population-based genetics repository in the USA. Not surprisingly, this rich research environment attracts researchers with a broad range of expertise and experience. An additional layer of complexity is added with multidisciplinary or multi-institutional research. Preparing competitive scientific grant proposals responsive to emerging public health priorities is especially daunting for individuals collaborating on interdisciplinary and translational projects who lack experience and traditional training in grantsmanship. New page limits and a revision of the peer review process at the National Institutes of Health have created new challenges, even for seasoned investigators. To assist researchers in navigating the process of preparing successful grant proposals in an increasingly competitive research environment, a full-service research infrastructure was established over time at the Clinic’s Research Foundation, including a Clinical Research Center, Epidemiological Study Center, Bioinformatics Research Center, Offices of Scientific Writing and Publication, Research Integrity and Protection, Sponsored Programs, and a Core Laboratory. However, coordinating assistance to busy clinicians proved challenging, and supplemental, conveniently-accessible resources were required by researchers for navigating the rich, but complex research environment. To this end, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation personnel teamed up to create a comprehensive informatics-based resource, Research Mentor, designed to support both new and established investigators in successful grant writing and manuscript preparation. The overarching purpose envisioned for Research Mentor was to serve as an educational resource on scientific writing related to research and as a bridge to internal resources, policies, and documents. The concept was to have scientific writing specialists centralize access to these resources to save investigators valuable time scouring the web in search of support tools. In addition, for internal personnel and investigators at institutions collaboratively working on research projects with Marshfield investigators, access to forms, policies, and support service personnel is also provided. Thus, Research Mentor was created as a web-based interactive resource that would provide direct links to other web-based educational resources which promote grantsmanship and scientific publication on the internet. Institutional resources that support investigators and sponsored programs offices are not unique. As example, Duke University,1 Stanford University,2 and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech),3 all have websites for their Sponsored Programs/Research office that provide some online tutorials regarding grant writing, and Purdue’s ‘The Owl’4 offers assistance with various aspects of manuscript development. However, we found none as comprehensive in their scope as Research Mentor, in providing support from research conceptualization, grant development, and submission to manuscript preparation within the context of the institutional research environment. To facilitate access across its network of regional centers, Research Mentor was originally launched on Marshfield Clinic’s intranet in 2008. Partially in response to requests for access from external collaborators who appreciated its value, and following exhibition of its contents and capabilities at several national conferences, Research Mentor was transferred to its current internet website at http://www.marshfieldclinic.org/mcrf/researchmentor in 2010, where it is a publically available resource. Access to research-related services and personnel, however, must remain limited to Marshfield Clinic investigators and their collaborators in the context of specific collaborative efforts, due to workload constraints on service personnel.