As part of a pilot project with the Canadian based Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group (CMSG) and the Cochrane Back Group of the international Cochrane Collaboration, the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) is pleased to re-offer this service for researchers who are applying for CIHR funding.
This service is intended to help IMHA researchers succeed at the CIHR by providing up-to-date literature in a timely fashion. It will ultimately help put one's research into the appropriate context of what is known in the best clinical literature available. As an added bonus, this service will provide other current literature from one's area of research that one may not find in one's own reviews. As such, it is intended to be a (free) value-added service with no down side or obligations!
Through IMHA, the CMSG and/or Cochrane back group will undertake literature searches or provide systematic reviews to New Investigators examining interventions for the prevention, treatment or rehabilitation of any disorder relevant to IMHA s research mandate noted above (arthritis, skin, bone, muscle, oral health or MSK rehabilitation).
Researchers interested in this service will submit their proposed research project objectives/questions to IMHA by completing the appropriate form. IMHA will then liaison with CMSG and Cochrane Back group to provide researchers with either an existing systematic review or if no existing review exists, an up-to-date review of the literature. A follow-up will be completed to ensure the results are satisfactory.
A systematic review is a synthesis of all known published controlled clinical trials and gives the best estimate of health benefits and side effects of a particular therapy. In topics where no Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) or Controlled Clinical Trials (CCTs) have been identified, systematic reviews may be produced using observational data.
An up-to-date review of the literature includes trials identified by a search strategy developed and run in the most relevant computer databases to the research area, including the Cochrane Databases. The researcher will be provided with a list of the most rigorous studies identified by this search including the randomized controlled trials most relevant to the researchers' clinical area and research question plus a listing of other key references.
NOTE: Offered as a pilot project over the next few years, IMHA will consider up to 50 requests for this service. We will monitor the demand and usefulness of this program to determine future requirements.
Eligibility criteria:
Process:
Timeline: Please submit your request to IMHA at least six weeks prior to the competition to which you are applying. CMSG and the Cochrane Back Group require up to 4 weeks to conduct the literature search that will form part of your grant application.
Contact:
Sophia Tsouros
Project Manager/Analyst
Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Room 97, 160 Elgin Street
Address locator: 4809A
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0W9
Tel: 613.954.3469
Fax: 613.941.1040
Email: stsouros@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
