Direct2Experts: a pilot national network to demonstrate interoperability among research-networking platforms.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Informatics
• Team Science
• Translational Research

Background:

• Research-networking tools facilitate expertise discovery and collaboration, crucial for team science and translational research.
• Existing platforms often focus on local collaborations, hindering the formation of multi-university research teams.
• Barriers to national networks include lack of data standards and institutional reluctance to share faculty information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe an initiative that achieved interoperability among research-networking products at multiple universities.
• To demonstrate a method for overcoming institutional barriers to create a national research network.
• To lay the groundwork for expanding network functionality and user focus.

Main Methods:

• Focused on addressing institutional concerns to encourage participation.
• Achieved interoperability among seven major research-networking products.
• Engaged 28 universities in the initiative within a 6-month period.

Main Results:

• Successfully established interoperability among research-networking products across 28 universities in 6 months.
• Demonstrated a viable approach to overcome institutional data-sharing barriers.
• Created a foundation for a national network supporting multi-university research collaborations.

Conclusions:

• Addressing institutional concerns is key to building national research networks.
• Interoperability among research-networking tools can be achieved rapidly.
• This initiative provides a model for fostering broader collaboration in team science and translational research.