Involving stakeholders in research priority setting: a scoping review.

Area of Science:

• Covers diverse scientific disciplines, including health, agriculture, environment, social work, and technology.

Background:

• Analyzes stakeholder involvement in research priority setting across various fields, extending beyond health.
• Evaluates 731 research priority setting projects published up to 2020.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive analysis of stakeholder involvement in research priority setting.
• To synthesize and evaluate research priority setting projects on a broad scale.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a comprehensive electronic literature search across PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science.
• Screened Google Scholar and relevant websites for grey literature.
• Utilized a computational approach for study selection, followed by manual final screening.

Main Results:

• Projects spanned 50 subject areas, with 93% focused on health research (nursing, cancer, pediatrics, mental health).
• Doctors, patients, academics, and nurses were the most frequently involved stakeholders.
• Active stakeholder involvement was emphasized in only 9% of projects, with a quarter involving them throughout the process.

Conclusions:

• Mapping stakeholder involvement guides future efforts for effective, inclusive, and transparent engagement.
• A new global database of research priority setting projects has been created to support ongoing research and updates.