High income and low- and middle-income country collaborations

Themes

High income and low- and middle-income country collaborations

What is this about?

Collaborations between high income countries and low- and middle-income countries are increasingly common in a globalized world.

Why is this important?

Collaborations between high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can be mutually beneficial endeavors. Researchers from HIC might benefit from local expertise and experience and gain access to unique resources, environments and participants. Researchers from LMICs potentially benefit from access to funding, international networks and opportunities for local capacity building. Collaborations can also, unfortunately, lead to negative experiences, ranging from different standards in data management and ethics applications to a lack of participation in research agenda setting and even coercive recruitment practices or exploitation of people/samples/resources.

For whom is this important?

Senior researchersFundersJunior researchers

What are the best practices?

Montreal Statement

The Montreal Statement on Research Integrity in Cross-Boundary Research Collaborations was developed at the 3rd World Conference on Research Integrity, 2013. The statement details twenty separate responsibilities of individuals and institutions concerning general collaborations, management of collaborations, collaborative relationships, and outcomes of research.

TRUST

TRUST is an EU funded project which aims to foster high ethical standards in research globally and to counteract the practice of “Ethics dumping” or double standards in research.

The TRUST project have developed a global code of conduct for research in research poor settings.

For the project website, click here.

In Detail

Dauda B, Dierickx K., One size that could fit all: IRBs joint review collaboration as the key to addressing the challenges of multinational research review involving resource-poor countries.Am J Bioeth. 2014;14(5):15-7.

The Embassy Editorial team, Iris Lechner, Natalie Evans, Joshua Gualtieri contributed to this theme. Latest contribution was Apr 10, 2024

Other information

Virtues & Values

• Autonomy
• Collegiality
• Professional courtesy and fairness

Good Practices & Misconduct

• Collaborative research
• International collaboration
• Power abuse