The ENTRUST-PE project
Recognizing multiple important and systematic challenges to the trustworthiness of research, the ENTRUST-PE project convened an international, interdisciplinary network of leaders with expertise in undertaking and publishing pain research across the spectrum of research disciplines (pre-clinical and clinical), the credibility of research and people with lived experience of pain. The network met on multiple occasions between September 2023 and August 2024, including a 2-day meeting at Brunel University London with the goal of developing an integrated framework for enhancing and facilitating the trustworthiness of pain research.
The ENTRUST-PE framework proposes that trustworthiness is multidimensional and underpinned by seven Core Values:
- Integrity and Governance
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity
- Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement
- Methodological Rigour
- Openness and Transparency
- Balanced Communication
- Data Authenticity.
Each core value should drive actions and behaviors that will enhance trustworthiness across all roles and stages of the research process. The ENTRUST-PE framework recognizes that researchers operate within a complex ecosystem of stakeholders containing myriad pressures and incentives that can positively or negatively affect behaviors. This includes institutions that conduct research, research funders, journal editors, publishers and peer reviewers, regulators, and policymakers, consumers of researchers, and researchers themselves. Action is recommended at every level. The framework offers specific recommendations for each stakeholder group for each Core Value and signposts the reader to resources to support those recommendations. The framework is summarized in the following figure:
The ENTRUST-PE group has completed a detailed White Paper that explains the project, the framework and its recommendations and developed a website that hosts and signposts to a range of publicly available resources with an explainer video, infographics, factsheets tailored to a range of stakeholders in the research ecosystem, each with specific recommendations to drive practice towards the values of the framework. The full white paper and associated resources are publicly available on the official website and on the Open Science Framework.
The ENTRUST-PE framework aims to drive engagement and support quality improvement within the pain research community. A “Call to Action” paper is now available, published in the Journal of Pain.
The ENTRUST-PE team are delighted to discuss any aspect of the framework and its recommendations with you and offer support and collaboration for any initiatives that might further implement the framework.
Together we can create an evidence base that everyone can trust.
The ENTRUST-PE network project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany under the ERA-NET Neuron Co-Fund Scheme (Proposal ID NEURON_NW-016)
Project Co-ordinator: Prof Neil O’Connell, Brunel University London. Email: neil.oconnell@brunel.ac.uk
Project Partners:
