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The Research ChallengeMcGill University, 3640 University Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2B2, Canada; jocelyne.feine{at}mcgill.ca
Key Words: technology transfer • knowledge transfer • dental education The universal goal of medical and dental research is to improve health. Since the rate of discovery is accelerating, particularly in burgeoning fields like genetics, this should be accompanied by a plethora of new and modified ways to reach that goal. The Editorial Board of the Journal of Dental Research (JDR) wishes to ensure that the material published in the Journal will drive developments in technology transfer, education, and practice. In past decades, the results of very few dental research papers were really translatable, which may be one reason that dental curricula were rarely revised. However, the opportunities for translation of basic and materials science to the clinical setting are now greater than they have ever been. The recent policy changes at the Journal demonstrate changing attitudes in oral health research and its dissemination. The appointment of an Associate Editor for Clinical Reports emphasizes the fact that the Journal wishes to become the primary vehicle for high-quality clinical oral health research. This will increase the readership of the JDR by clinical scientists, students, and clinicians, who will also benefit from reading articles on more basic topics. The Journal will publish applied research over the whole range: from clinical research to health service delivery and epidemiology. To ensure that data from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) can be included in systematic reviews and meta-analyses, we now require that authors of RCTs prepare their manuscripts according to the CONSORT guidelines (Moher et al., 2001). Furthermore, we will be requiring that authors specifically address the pertinence of their findings to health and disease. For all types of research, the Journal aims to publish study findings that are novel, definitive, and significant. There must also exist at least the potential for translation into improvements in understanding, technology, or practice, because important discoveries that rest within the pages of a journal are of little benefit. As scientist-educators, we have a responsibility to diffuse the results of our work to those whose roles are to advance research or to apply it. As part of this effort, significant findings should be quickly incorporated into teaching programs. The challenge, then, is to respond quickly to the emergence of new knowledge by revising course material appropriately. To do this, many dental schools are switching to a "living" curriculum to facilitate the rapid replacement of old material by new information. To maintain high-quality research production and up-to-date teaching programs, dental faculties need well-educated clinician-scientists. Unfortunately, demand far exceeds supply, with the result that there are a great many open positions for clinician-scientists in all regions of the world. Output of well-qualified clinician-scientists is low, in part because the endpoint of many graduate training programs in Dentistry is the specialty certificate, and insufficient emphasis is given to the quality and quantity of research training. What are needed are graduate and undergraduate curricula that place high value on research. Courses on study design, biostatistical principles, and understanding the scientific literature are now offered in some schools at both levels. Summer programs in oral health research are a great stimulus, because they allow undergraduate dental students to be exposed to quality research early in their careers. In several countries, governments support programs to improve the training of clinician-scientists through the support of joint PhD and specialty training. Encouragement of students to participate in our IADR General Sessions and other meetings also helps to expose them to rigorous scientific debate and research dissemination. In the end, whether our research is carried out in the laboratory, in a clinic, or over the telephone, whether our research is quantitative or qualitative, psychosocial or behavioral, what we publish is meant to have an impact on the oral health of generations to come. Our efforts should make a difference. REFERENCE
Journal of Dental Research, Vol. 83, No. 8,
589 (2004)
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