Abstract
CONTEXT: In October 2023, the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) and the Association of Departments of Family Medicine (ADFM) announced their strategic plan for family medicine research. One emphasis of the plan is to develop and normalize the team science approach in family medicine research. It is not known how and with what frequency team science is reported in family medicine literature. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the frequency and way in which original research reported a team science approach or described cross-disciplinary partnerships with non-physicians and community-based organizations in two leading family medicine journals. We also examined whether and how these studies were funded. STUDY DESIGN AND ANALYSIS: A multidisciplinary team composed of MDs and PhDs from the disciplines of family medicine, medical anthropology, psychology, and the humanities participating in the BRC fellowship developed and implemented this project. Primary and secondary reviewers were randomly assigned to assess published articles from the Annals of Family Medicine (AFM) and Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine (JABFM). Full manuscripts were reviewed for the term “team science,” descriptions of cross-disciplinary partnerships, and involvement of community-based organizations. SETTING OR DATASET: Original research articles from AFM and JABFM published in 2023 excluding systematic reviews and meta-analyses. POPULATION STUDIED: Not applicable. INTERVENTION/INSTRUMENT: Not applicable. RESULTS: A total of 107 articles were included, 44.9% from AFM and 55.1% from JABFM. None explicitly mentioned team science. Nineteen (17.8%) described cross-disciplinary partnerships. Of those, nearly all (18) were found in the manuscript with one description in the appendix. Seventeen (15.9%) manuscripts described the disciplines of the contributors and five (4.7%) described community collaborators. Most (80.4%) articles were based on funded studies. CONCLUSIONS: Although a priority within the NAPCRG/ADFM 2024-2030 strategic initiative, neither the team science approach nor cross-disciplinary partnerships are frequently described in recent published studies from two prominent family medicine journals. Editors of journals should develop a standard for reporting team science and ask authors to describe collaborations that contributed to a research project, when applicable.