Collaboration between health system decision makers and professional researchers to coproduce knowledge, a scoping review

Background Recent literature uses different terms and approaches to the collaboration between researchers and health system decision‐makers in the research process. In 2012, the World Health Organisation proposed to “Embed research within decision‐making processes”. Yet, important contributions use other terms and perspectives for the same issue. This scoping review aimed to identify these terms, approaches, their application and eventual influence on the utilization of evidence. Methods We searched papers published between January 2000 and February 2019 in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese in the databases of PubMed, Scielo, Google Scholar and EBSCOhost, thus accessing MedicLatina, MEDLINE Complete and eBook Collection. Our main inclusion criterion was the participation of health personnel in non‐clinical research activities. We considered three domains for in depth analysis: Definition, name and description of the participation of decision makers and health staff; Forms of collaboration and actual/effective participation of health staff in research; Eventual influence on the utilization of research results. Results We identified 607 articles and selected 74 for full text analysis. Nineteen different terms are currently used in twelve countries to describe the participation of health decision‐makers and staff in research activities. Most publications refer to Integrated Knowledge Translation or Embedded Research, and were published in Canada and the United Kingdom. Forty‐five papers discuss the participation of health staff in research activities; 20 leading the whole process and 21 as collaborators. Conclusions The identification of the different terms and approaches to the close collaboration of health staff and decision‐makers with professional researchers is essential to promote its effective application and influence on the utilization of evidence. Yet, it is also necessary to insist in their co‐participation throughout the whole investigation process as a relevant way to improve research results uptake, strengthen health systems and advance towards universal health coverage.