Collaborating with renowned international universities for basic and clinical research is a great way of acquiring the essential research skills required to catapult you in your research career. As more and more clinicians in the developing world recognize this, I am often asked about how to get into these collaborations and make them successful. I will try and answer some of the questions in this blog.
Before we get to the specifics, physicians in the developing world must realize that they have the patient pool to successfully conduct any clinical study or trial simply because of the sheer number of patients. The expertise to conduct these studies is best available with experienced researchers sitting miles away from you in academic institutions in the developed world. Thus collaboration between those with patients and those with the expertise will be a marriage made in heaven. However, this is easier said than done. To collaborate successfully and publish papers requires a lot of commitment on part of both the teams.
There are certain prerequisites that you need to fulfil to initiate good collaborations:
Institutional Review Board (Ethics committee): Your institution, hospital or clinic must either have its own ethics committee or be affiliated to an external ethics committee within the geographical confines of your own city. The most recent guidelines from ICMR & DCGI in India and other regulatory agencies across the world have made it mandatory that every study be approved by a formal Ethics committee. International collaborators need this document from you to inform their universities and initiate the collaboration.
Research coordinator: You will require services of at least one research coordinator to execute the study smoothly. Collaborators will often inquire about your research capabilities and will mostly concentrate on the number of potential patients and manpower available to complete the study. Having a coordinator for research at your centre suggests that you are committed and organized and ready to collaborate.
Once you have the Ethics committee and research coordinator in place, you will be seen as a potential collaborating centre by most universities.
Networking: The next question is how to approach high profile international faculty to collaborate with you i.e. networking. There are several ways to approach this. Firstly, you should start with presenting good quality papers at international conferences and interact with researchers from different parts of the world. Conferences such as the annual ARVO (The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, https://www.arvo.org/AM/) for meeting offer a lot of scope for networking. You will meet fellow researchers with common research interests as well as top university professors who might like your work and be interested in collaborating with you. Another approach is to look up the email ids of researchers who have published seminal literature in your field of interest and get in touch with them. Corresponding author emails are usually available with the published manuscripts. Frame your first email with precision and keep it as short as possible, enumerate your strengths and express your interest in collaborating.
Study Planning and Execution: Once you have managed to secure a high profile international collaboration, you will have to live up to it. This means recruiting patients and executing the study as planned and within timelines. It is essential to communicate frequently with your collaborators. A video call once a week is usually appreciated. Additionally, sending consolidated statistics once a week (e.g. number recruited, number of patients at each time point of the study, number of loss to follow up, etc.) is another way of showing your progress. These measures will show that you are committed to bringing the study to fruition.
International collaborators usually assist with planning of the study protocol and then assist with statistical analysis and manuscript writing, which are their strengths. However, it is a good idea to write the first draft of the manuscript so that you will learn how to be good at medical writing.
In addition to gaining valuable experience in planning and conducting studies, you will also gain friendship and may receive funding that will ease the burden on your resources. Finally, a publication in the best journals with some of the most respected names in your field will be the biggest reward that will elevate your status amongst your peers.
In conclusion, finding international collaborations and executing studies requires commitment from you but is an enriching experience that improves you immensely in various facets of your professional life.