Teams are expected to produce a final report for each topic. Once approved by the Editor, this will be uploaded as a topic report on the NIHR project page associated with the contract record. Topic reports must be made available for each topic, and should not be delayed to allow for other publications.
To ensure the results of these studies are made available as soon as possible, final reports for each topic will undergo an expedited editorial review process. These reports will not undergo the production process or publication within the HSDR journal and so should be on the website in 14 weeks. Consequently, extensions to deadlines can only be granted in exceptional circumstances.
The Report sections guidance includes a format for final reports, and we would suggest you broadly follow this format when writing up individual evaluation reports – though please let us know if there are any issues with this.
Key points to note:
- We would expect individual reports to be shorter than the specified 50,000 words, although this will obviously vary depending on the length and complexity of particular topics
- Since the topic report will not undergo the copyediting, typesetting and proofreading processes it is particularly important that authors proofread their work thoroughly, to ensure the final version published on the website is accurate and free of errors.
- It is the Authors responsibility to ensure the correct permission has been obtained and cited within the reports. Permissions for any reproduced work contained in either topic reports or final reports will need to be obtained in advance, as it can cause significant delays if they need to be obtained during the review process – see website for more details
- You will also need to complete an ICJME conflicts of interest form (available on the website), and agree order of authors for each evaluation
- Please keep us informed of any outputs (e.g. articles, presentations, conference abstracts etc.) that you may be planning linked to any of the evaluations you undertake. We may need to manage these in terms of timing of publication and it is easiest to do that if we plan in advance
- Due to the constrained timescales, the Journals Library team will only be able to approve limited author extensions in exceptional circumstances.
At the end of the contracted period, each team will produce an encompassing final report that describes each topic across that period, managed on the contract record. This will undergo expedited Editorial Review and Production processes, to be published in the Health and Social Care Delivery Research journal. A Journals Library report must be published for each contract.