[Quality research and the difficulties involved therein]

After an evaluation of the current situation of research in our country and establishing the concept and requisites of what is considered "quality research", this article will analyze the difficulties in carrying it out (lack of appreciation of research activity and consequent lack of necessary support and insufficient funding, lack of training for researchers, lack of continuity, among others), while trying to provide possible solutions to these problems. The important role of university hospitals will play as the backbone of translational research, coordinating research and medical practice, is also considered, together with the need to reorganize these institutions for this transcendent mission. The driving forces behind research activity in our discipline and the characteristics of radiological research are analyzed, postulating the need to return to the basics (simple, practical patient-centered research, as opposed to research based on technology) and pointing out the interest in the integration of recently constituted European organisms to promote multicenter research in medical imaging (EIBIR: European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research).