The Report of Engagement in Community Research (REACH) Tool: A Strategy to Promote Transparency and Improve Planning...

Community engagement is increasingly recognized as essential for producing impactful and ethical research outcomes. However, the field lacks a standardized, consistently used method to document community involvement, hindering transparency and accountability in the research process. To address this gap, we have developed a novel tool, the Report of Engagement in Community Research (REACH), to provide clarity on the extent, nature, and timing of community involvement in research endeavors. Unlike conventional methods that often offer vague descriptions of community participation, the REACH tool enables research teams to articulate precisely how and when community members are engaged, their specific research roles, and their level of involvement. By offering a concise, visual, structured framework, REACH empowers researchers to transparently communicate the depth and breadth of community collaboration within their projects. Using the REACH tool results in a stylized graph that describes when and what research activities community members were involved in and the extent of their collaboration. Community-academic research teams can use REACH not only to retrospectively explain community contributions to research but also to proactively plan research roles in equitable, realistic ways. By promoting transparency and accountability, the REACH tool contributes to the development of more inclusive, impactful, and ethically sound research practices. As a versatile and user-friendly tool, REACH has the potential to catalyze transformative changes in the way community-engaged research is conducted, communicated, and replicated.