Bridging disciplinary silos

Sallie Barnes, Annette Boaz and Kathryn Oliver at Transforming Evidence share the launch of the URE Methods Repository, an open resource to support collaboration and innovative practice in the use of research field. 

There are two critical problems facing the use of research evidence (or URE) space. The first is the limited opportunity to learn about how other disciplines are researching URE. The second is the lack of open and interdisciplinary debate about what counts as good quality research in the field. The URE Methods Repository seeks to address these problems. By providing improved access to published papers, data, analysis tools, and preprints, the repository aims to promote more connected, innovative practice and help us to avoid reinventing the wheel.

A shared, open access space

There are many barriers to collaborative work on the use of research evidence. Even the language used to describe the field varies. Different areas of work and practice, and different parts of the world, use different terminology: Education researchers in the US might use the term ‘research use’, a Health Sciences researcher in the UK might name ‘Implementation Science’, while a scientist working on conversation may prefer to talk about ‘knowledge mobilisation’. These terms refer to closely related, and often overlapping, fields and concerns. On top of this, we’ve also got ‘URE’, ‘metascience’, ‘Research on Research’, the ‘Science of Science’, and other efforts to describe this interconnected whole. Without shared community and language, we risk duplicating efforts in different settings. It also reduces our ability to learn from each other and work towards common goals.

As a shared, open access space that uses consistent and accessible language, the URE repository will provide opportunity for researchers, regardless of academic discipline or area of study, to publish their research protocols for others to view and learn from. Open access infrastructure like this contributes to the FAIR data environment, supporting transparency and aiding reproducibility. The sharing of methods such as survey instruments or interview protocols allows researchers to benefit from insights and best practice in other areas. We hope the repository will enable researchers to build on and iterate their work more collectively, ultimately driving up quality, methodological rigour, and usefulness of research in the URE space.

Growing a sustainable and diverse repository

With generous support from the William T Grant Foundation, Transforming Evidence are now taking the repository into its next phase. We have three goals:

1. To drive up the quality of research on evidence use by sharing quality resources.
2. To grow the repository sustainably, with researchers using it routinely across the research cycle.
3. To improve the useability of the repository for all users: funders, researchers and publishers.

We are working with Overton to help the repository reach more people. Their redesign will focus on three key areas: boosting discoverability, encouraging contribution and promoting best practice. Navigation is at the forefront of the new database design. Users will be able to perform keyword searches, enabling quicker access to the work they are interested in. Extensive filtering options will also be available to help narrow down search results to only the most relevant work.

We welcome that journals, including Evidence and Policy, increasingly expect that contributing authors will share their materials in public repositories. To make this workload easier, we are simplifying and updating the upload process.

Lastly, the redesign will showcase existing key texts and resources. We will diversify the current collection by drawing on resources such as the Pan-African Collective for Evidence’s EIDM measures and the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration’s Instrument Review Project. Collaborating with partners across different geographies will strengthen the repository through new interdisciplinary and cross-national connections. The redesigned resource hub will provide quick access to journals, research networks and literature.

Collaborate with us

uremethods.org will relaunch in Summer 2025. We welcome opportunities for collaboration, and we’d especially like to hear more from the following groups:

• Funders: tell us about research you’re funding that should be in the repository
• Publishers: get in touch if you’re interested in embedding use of the repository in your publishing guidelines.

The invitation to collaborate extends to all in the community – if you want to share your thoughts, please reach out!

Sallie Barnes is the Project Manager for the Methods Repository and can be reached at sallie.barnes@kcl.ac.uk. This new phase builds on work done in the first phase of development of the URE Methods Repository by Drew Gitomer, Kevin Crouse and Nikki Dreste. This blog was cross-posted with the Evidence & Policy Blog.