Summary

This paper outlines the proposal to create an online repository for ambulance service research, as part of the service provided by the new Library and Knowledge Service for Ambulance Trusts in England (LKS ASE). 

The repository will ensure that research about urgent and emergency care, undertaken by and on behalf of ambulance Trusts in England is readily discoverable and easily accessible to staff, learners, researchers, funders, patients and the public alike, raising its profile nationally and internationally, and speeding translation of research into practice for the benefit of patients.  

The funding for this initiative has already been secured, and the LKS ASE Librarian and team have the knowledge and expertise to build and maintain the repository, however the support of the ambulance service’s education and research leads will be critical to its success. 

What is a repository and what could it include?

A repository is essentially an online archive for collecting, preserving, and disseminating copies of the intellectual output of an organisation or organisations. Most universities have repositories, as do an increasing number of NHS Trusts.

Repositories usually include formally published research, but may also include research-related outputs such as presentations, conference papers, posters and case studies. Academic journal publishers set rules about inclusion in repositories of research which will be or has been published in paid-for journals.  The software used by a repository can work within these rules, and also provide means for publication of research in open-access journals.

We are interested in your views on what content should be included in the ambulance service repository: just formal research, or other materials as well. We envisage a section for each Trust.

To see more information about repositories, and view some examples, visit https://ambulance.libguides.com/repository

What are the benefits?

Making ambulance service research easily discoverable – providing a single place to find all the publications from the partner trusts, with contents discoverable by Google and PubMed as well as specialist search engines.

Raising the profile of ambulance service research – making the body of research readily accessible to different audiences - researchers, research funders, clinicians and paramedics in the UK and internationally. 

Enabling faster dissemination of research and adoption in practice -  facilitating faster sharing of research and translation of research into practice, for the benefit of ambulance services and patients.  

Enabling strategic planning of research – making it easier to identify research gaps and areas for collaboration, and providing usage statistics to identify high performing research and high performing individual authors/teams.

Supporting researchers – helping those involved in preparing research proposals and funding applications by enabling easy signposting to what already exists.

Supporting authors – providing the means for Open Access publishing which is typically now a typical requirement of public sector funding bodies.

Saving money – both by creating a single repository for use by all Trusts (with a section for each if helpful) and by reducing the need to pay to access research articles.

What are the critical success factors?

Incentivise contributions – we need staff involved in research to contribute to the repository:  could Ambulance Trust research/education departments make it a requirement of employees engaged in research to contribute the outputs of their work?

Encourage use – we need staff and stakeholders to use the repository: could Ambulance Trusts include ‘Showcasing our research” links on Trust websites and intranets, promote the repository in marketing and publicity, and include links whenever referring to research in documents?

Help understanding – the rules about publishing research in paid-for and open access journals are quite complex: the LKS ASE library team can work with research leads to provide help and advice.

What happens now?

Having identified the technical and functional requirements for a repository, and thoroughly researched the options, a preferred software provider has been identified, and the necessary assurances relating to support, security, reliability and GDPR-compliance obtained.  The contract will be held by NWAS on behalf of the partner Trusts.  The workload involved in populating and maintaining the repository can be managed by the LKS ASE Librarian and the team at the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust library service.  

Indicative Project TimeLine

LKS ASE aims to deliver the repository in the first six months of 2019.

What do you think?

Please give us your views on this proposal via our very short survey here or via email to Matt.Holland@nwas.nhs.uk.