Recommendations for interdisciplinary research collaboration for early career dissemination and implementation researchers: A multi-phase study

Introduction: Dissemination and implementation (D&I) scientists are key members of collaborative, interdisciplinary clinical and translational research teams. Yet, early career D&I researchers (ECRs) have few guidelines for cultivating productive research collaborations. We developed recommendations for ECRs in D&I when serving as collaborators or co-investigators. Methods: We employed a consensus-building approach: (1) group discussions to identify 3 areas of interest: Marketing yourself (describing your value to non-D&I collaborators), Collaboration considerations (contributions during proposal development), and Responsibilities following project initiation (defining your role throughout projects); (2) first survey and focus groups to iteratively rank/refine sub-domains within each area; (3) second survey and expert input on clarity/content of sub-domains; and (4) iterative development of key recommendations. Results: Forty-four D&I researchers completed the first survey, 12 of whom attended one of three focus groups. Twenty-nine D&I researchers completed the second survey (n = 29) and 10 experts provided input. We identified 25 recommendations. Findings suggest unique collaboration strengths (e.g, partnership-building) and challenges (e.g., unclear link to career milestones) for ECR D&I researchers, and underscore the value of ongoing training and mentorship for ECRs and the need to intersect collaborative D&I efforts with health equity principles. Conclusions: Research collaborations are essential in clinical and translational research. We identified recommendations for D&I ECRs to be productive research collaborators, including training and support needs for the field. Findings suggest an opportunity to examine research collaboration needs among early career D&I scientists, and provide guidance on how to successfully provide mentorship and integrate health equity principles into collaborative research.