Further Details
The RCGP Research Paper of the Year Award
Have you read a paper published during 2008 that you
think deserves recognition as the Research Paper of the Year?
The closing date for the2008 Research Paper of
the Year award has now passed. The winner of the award will
be announced in Summer 2009. For more information please
visit the Research Paper of the Year webpage.
Criteria for the Award
The panel of judges for this award apply the following criteria
when they are reviewing entries for this award:
Originality
Originality is a major criterion. The panel looks at whether
papers are the extension of a previously existing idea or of
previous work or, for example, a duplication of study that has
already been done but in a different setting. It will consider
whether a paper constitutes a study of a subject which has not been
previously researched or a subject that has not be satisfactorily
studied in the past.
Applicability
Papers submitted for this award are expected to contribute
clearly to the body of medical science and to have applicability to
working general practitioners in the United Kingdom and/or the
Republic of Ireland. Merit will be given to those studies that have
direct relevance to and can be easily implemented within a service
practice setting. The panel considers whether the paper in some way
illuminates general practitioners' understanding of disease,
service delivery or the kind of patients that consult GPs. The
panel will also assess whether the content of a paper will be of
obvious help or assistance to service GPs.
Standing of General Practice/Primary Care
The panel considers how the paper contributes to the standing of
general practice and primary care within the academic community of
medicine as a whole.
Presentation
The panel considers the presentation, clarity and style of
papers as well as their scientific soundness and value.
Authors
Additional credit will be given, as part of the assessment to
papers that are multi-disciplinary in their authorship.
GP contribution
The lead researcher for studies relating to general practice and
primary care is not always a GP. Credit will be given where a
general practitioner is the principal investigator. For entries to
be eligible, at least one of the paper's authors should have been a
general practitioner normally undertaking some clinical sessions
within the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland at the time
the study was undertaken. If this was not the case, entries for
this award may be accepted at the discretion of the Chair of the
panel of assessors, dependent on the reason for the break in the
relevant author's service or other pertinent background
information.
Topic
Papers should preferably relate to clinical work with patients
in the general practice or primary care setting and the project
must have been undertaken within the UK and/or the Republic of
Ireland. There is no specific topic on which papers are being
sought. Papers relating to philosophical aspects of general
practice and primary care and meta analyses are eligible but, in
the case of two papers attracting equal scores, additional weight
is likely to be allocated to a paper based on primary research.
Papers could, for example, cover one or more of the following
aspects:
- Research on the role of the general practitioner.
- Research which is fundamental to thinking in general
practice.
- Research into a disease which commonly presents in general
practice.
- Research whose outcome is practical to implement in general
practice.
- Research which will increase the cost effectiveness of general
practice.
- Research in which the prevention of complications is clearly
demonstrated.
circ@rcgp.org.uk
0203 170 8231