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Mapping the growing discipline of dissemination and implementation science in health

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Abstract

The field of dissemination and implementation (D&I) research in health has grown considerably in the past decade. Despite the potential for advancing the science, limited research has focused on mapping the field. We administered an online survey to individuals in the D&I field to assess participants’ demographics and expertise, as well as engagement with journals and conferences, publications, and grants. A combined roster-nomination method was used to collect data on participants’ advice networks and collaboration networks; participants’ motivations for choosing collaborators was also assessed. Frequency and descriptive statistics were used to characterize the overall sample; network metrics were used to characterize both networks. Among a sub-sample of respondents who were researchers, regression analyses identified predictors of two metrics of academic performance (i.e., publications and funded grants). A total of 421 individuals completed the survey, representing a 30.75% response rate of eligible individuals. Most participants were White (n = 343), female (n = 284, 67.4%), and identified as a researcher (n = 340, 81%). Both the advice and the collaboration networks displayed characteristics of a small world network. The most important motivations for selecting collaborators were aligned with advancing the science (i.e., prior collaborators, strong reputation, and good collaborators) rather than relying on human proclivities for homophily, proximity, and friendship. Among a sub-sample of 295 researchers, expertise (individual predictor), status (advice network), and connectedness (collaboration network) were significant predictors of both metrics of academic performance. Network-based interventions can enhance collaboration and productivity; future research is needed to leverage these data to advance the field.

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Abbreviations

APA:

American Psychological Association

APHA:

American Public Health Association

D&I:

Dissemination and Implementation

HMO:

Health Maintenance Organization

IHI:

Institute for Healthcare Improvement

IRI:

Implementation Research Institute

MT-DIRC:

Mentored Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer

NCI:

National Cancer Institute

NIH:

National Institutes of Health

NIMH:

National Institute of Mental Health

QUERI:

Quality Enhancement Research Initiative

TIDIRH:

Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health

US:

United States

VA:

Veterans Affairs

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank everyone who completed the survey and the D&I researchers who graciously donated their time for a 1-h consultation as part of the raffle drawing for participant incentives.

Funding

Preparation of this manuscript is supported in part by NIH 5U01GM112623-02. Data collection and analysis was supported in part by discretionary funds provided by UAB to WEN.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

WEN participated in study development, study design, coordination of data collection, data interpretation, and manuscript writing and editing. AL participated in data analysis, data interpretation, and manuscript writing and editing. DAC participated in data interpretation and manuscript writing and editing. NSC participated in study development, study design, coordination of data collection, data interpretation, and manuscript writing and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wynne E. Norton.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

NSC is the co-founder and Chairman of Syndio. WEN, AL and DAC have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The Institutional Review Boards at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Northwestern University reviewed and approved the study under exempt status.

Informed consent

Individuals listed in Table 3 provided written consent to be named in the manuscript.

Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available to maintain privacy and confidentiality associated with social network data.

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Norton, W.E., Lungeanu, A., Chambers, D.A. et al. Mapping the growing discipline of dissemination and implementation science in health. Scientometrics 112, 1367–1390 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-017-2455-2

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