Involving consumers in research papers:
- Identify a key contact or ‘buddy’ in the research group to work with consumers in the writing and submission process.
- Allow time for meetings between consumer author(s) and ‘buddy’ to discuss a plan and provide assistance for writing content.
- Offer assistance to help guide consumers’ writing, this may be a new experience for some. Things that may be helpful include:
- Explaining the ‘type’ of research article being written.
- Providing examples of other similar papers written by/with consumers.
- Providing an overview or framework for the paper, including some prompts/questions of what consumers may like to include in different sections.
- Consider/plan for consumers’ organizational affiliation and contact information to be included on publications.
- Researcher ‘buddy’ to offer/provide assistance with the submission process.
Dr Karine Manera’s tips for co-authorship:
- Journals require affiliations for all co-authors. For consumers that don’t have an affiliation, you can list the consumers under your own affiliation. Alternatively, you can provide the affiliation of the hospital or clinic that they attend as a patient. They may also have their own affiliations for charity work or teaching that they do separately, and this may be acceptable as well.
- Make it clear what co-authorship entails in terms of reviewing and contributing to the manuscript being published, as well as the process of publishing an article. They may be sent multiple emails regarding filling out conflict of interest and other declarations, and they may ignore these if they’re not informed of what to expect prior.
- For consumers interested in developing research careers, advise them to track their involvement in papers and projects in a CV or other document. This will be useful for research or job applications they may be interested in in the future.