Collaboration in aphasia research: benefits to researchers and society

<b>Introduction</b>:<br/><div>The role of competition and collaboration as engines of science has been a heated topic of discussion in recent years. While the competitive model, imported from the business world, has been the dominant paradigm, collaborative approaches to science are gaining recognition as a necessary force for progress in the development of wide-ranging projects. Initiatives such as the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists (CATs), a collaboration established in 2013 and including more than 300 members from over 40 countries, constitute a valuable source of data as to the actual benefits of collaborative scientific efforts, from their perceived impact to their actual contributions.</div><br/><b>Aim</b>:<br/>In the context of an international, multidisciplinary collaboration that sought to advance aphasia research efforts and in turn awareness, resources, services, and support for the benefit of people with aphasia, we explored collaboration members’ expectations and experiences of CATs membership and support and aspects that may benefit from further improvement.<br/><br/><b>Methods</b>:<br/>Developed by the Executive Committee and piloted extensively, we conducted an anonymised, cross-sectional, online survey consisting of 24 open and close-ended questions addressed to the CATs members 2022.<br/><br/><b>Results</b>:<br/>A total of 127 professionals from diverse nationalities (42% of all CATs members of which 69% were speech and language therapists and 45% &gt; 8 years post PhD) responded to the questionnaire. Motivations for joining CATs and perceived benefits of membership aligned, with both mainly relating to opportunities for building international research links and research collaboration. Members welcomed the network’s visionary approach to progressing multidisciplinary aphasia research, collaborative international networking, and the inclusive ethos of the network. Challenges of membership were also identified which included maintaining communication flow and finding a personal space and contributions as a member.<br/><br/><b>Discussion</b>:<br/>Our results support the advancement of collaborative approaches to research, focused on the development and conduct of high quality globally-relevant, clinically impactful research which aims to address societal needs. As a byproduct, such approaches will address the objective research metrics employed by academic and research institutions such as citation rates, journal impact factors, and funding of research projects.