Top 20 research priorities on methods of co-production in evidence synthesis

Evidence synthesis is the process of bringing together information from multiple studies to provide a clearer understanding of what is known about a specific topic. Research of co-production means that research teams and people with an interest in the topic such as patients/careers/public, health-care professionals, policymakers, and many more work together to plan, conduct, and publish research that is relevant and useful. There is currently little known about how best to achieve useful and impactful coproduction for evidence synthesis.

In this study, the authors gathered ideas about possible research to improve coproduction in evidence synthesis from a range of people. They then had a series of online voting, using recognized methods to help reach agreement. They used analysis methods designed to give all groups of people an equal voice in the voting process. They gathered 242 ideas which they grouped into 31 topics. In total, 58 people from 21 countries voted on these. The process identified the shared top 20 research priorities.