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. 2016 Aug 9;11(8):e0160837.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160837. eCollection 2016.

Building Global Capacity for Conducting Operational Research Using the SORT IT Model: Where and Who?

Rony Zachariah  1 , Stefanie Rust  2 , Selma Dar Berger  3 , Nathalie Guillerm  3 , Karen Bissell  3   4 , Paul Delaunois  1 , Anthony J Reid  1 , Ajay M V Kumar  3   5 , Piero L Olliaro  6 , John C Reeder  6 , Anthony D Harries  3   7 , Andrew Ramsay  6   8
Affiliations

Building Global Capacity for Conducting Operational Research Using the SORT IT Model: Where and Who?

Rony Zachariah et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Setting: Research capacity is weakest in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) where operational research is highly relevant and needed. Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT) courses have been developed to train participants to conduct and publish operational research and influence policy and practice. Twenty courses were completed in Asia, Africa, Europe and the South Pacific between 2009 and 2014.

Objectives: In the 20 completed SORT IT courses, to assess where the research was conducted, who was trained, who became facilitators in subsequent courses and course outcomes.

Design: A cohort study of completed SORT IT courses.

Results: There were 236 participants (41% female) including 64 nationalities who conducted research in 59 countries, mostly from Asia and Africa (mean course duration = 9.7 months). Most participants (68%) were from government health programs and non-governmental agencies. A total of 213(90%) participants completed all milestones successfully with 41(19%) becoming subsequent course facilitators, 88% of whom were from LMICs. Of 228 manuscripts submitted to scientific journals, 197(86%) were either published or in press; in 86%, the principal investigator (first author) was a LMIC national. Papers were published in 23 scientific journals (impact factor 0.5-4.4) and covered 21 disease categories (median publication time = 5.7 months). Published papers (186) had 94,794 cumulative article views/downloads. Article views/downloads for immediate open access articles were double those from closed access journals.

Conclusion: The SORT IT model has been effective in training personnel to produce relevant operational research in LMICs. It merits continued commitment and support for further scale-up and development.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. SORT IT Operational Research capacity building projects involving 236 participants from 59 countries (2009–2014).
Fig 2
Fig 2. Course completion and publication outputs from 20 completed SORT IT courses in Europe, Africa, Asia and the South Pacific, (2009 to 2014).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Trend in number of publications from SORT IT courses and the proportion of open access journal publications (2009–2013).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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