Roles dissemination and implementation scientists can play in supporting research teams

Abstract

The field of dissemination and implementation (D&I) science is rapidly growing, with many scientists seeking to apply D&I science to enhance and expand the impact of their work. As the D&I field grows and collaborations of implementation scientists with other fields flourish, a description for the roles for D&I scientists as they collaborate with researchers from other fields could be beneficial. This paper exemplifies how the D&I scientist/researcher collaborative process might work and important elements to consider in doing so, as well as provide an outline on how collaborations might progress for different project needs. This is discussed through example scenarios to consider an implementation scientists' engagement in a research project and describe potential roles for implementation scientists in supporting research teams. We then discuss characteristics to consider when incorporating a D&I expert into a team and considerations in navigating the scenarios.

Keywords: Collaboration in implementation science; Education on implementation science; Funding of implementation science.

Fig. 1

Flow of decisions once the decision has been made to incorporate D&I Science in the project

Fig. 2

Characteristics to consider when incorporating a dissemination and implementation science expert into a team