E-health: implementation and evaluation research in Scotland -- a scoping exercise.

We searched the National Research Register (NRR) to identify funded research in Scotland (or in collaboration with a Scottish partner) in the area of implementation and evaluation of e-health services. A total of 61 research projects were identified which had been funded since 1 January 1995. These projects shared almost 7 million pound of funding (1 pound is $1.9 or 1.3 euro), the main funding sources being the Scottish Government and the European Union. Based on the projects reviewed, the majority of e-health research in Scotland was being conducted within the communication systems domain. Most of the research was being conducted at a single centre: only 14 studies (23%) were multisite. Future collaboration between these researchers, involving larger scale funding bids, may increase the quantity of e-health implementation and evaluation research.