The research collective: a model for developing timely, contextually relevant and dynamic approaches to research synthesis?

In this issue, Pineault and colleagues (2006) report on a Quebec-based research collective, a process aimed at rapidly synthesizing results from ongoing or recently completed research and releasing them to decision-makers. The process outlined differs markedly from Cochrane-based formal systematic reviews, and the authors claim a number of benefits that make the results more relevant to decision-makers, including enhanced timeliness of results, increased triangulation among emerging research findings, and more in-depth understanding of the impact of contextual environments on research results. This approach may offer opportunities to both advance and enrich existing synthesis tools. The research community should learn more from this process.