Does the world need a scientific society for research on how to improve healthcare?

The Editors of Implementation Science have published an Editorial detailing arguments for setting up a new scientific society for research on how to improve healthcare. They aim to start an international debate, to discover if we can establish a shared vision across academics and stakeholders engaged with creating scientific knowledge on how to improve healthcare. The proposed society will only come into existence if it gets the international support from researchers, funders, and stakeholders. They invite readers (of any background) to express their views in the online questionnaire accessed by following the URL link provided in the Editorial.

Study protocols describe proposed or ongoing research, providing a detailed account of the hypothesis, rationale, and methodology of the study. The work described should have been funded through competitive external peer review and have appropriate ethics permissions. Systematic review protocols should be submitted to Systematic Reviews.

Martin Eccles

Martin Eccles is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Implementation Science along with Brian Mittman. They launched their journal with BioMed Central in February 2006.

Martin Eccles is Professor of Clinical Effectiveness and the William Leach Professor of Primary Care Research at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK where he runs the Clinical Effectiveness research programme. The overall aim of the programme is to improve patient outcomes through receiving appropriate healthcare and covers four areas: systematic reviews; hypothesis generating studies; hypothesis testing studies (usually randomised controlled trials of interventions to promote the uptake of research evidence into practice); and the exploration of theory relevant to this area, in order to better understand clinician behaviour and design interventions to promote change. He has published widely on implementation issues.

Martin Eccles
University of Newcastle upon Tyne