Collaborating with the GPC - Research Opportunity Assessment

The GPC supports a variety of collaboration opportunities for investigators and researchers ranging from feasibility counts and de-identified data to grant support and patient recruitment for trials. Each collaboration opportunity is unique and your next steps depend on your desired outcomes.

Our process begins with a Research Opportunity Assessment (ROA). Please see the requirements and different courses of action below.

Key requirements for collaboration:

1. Have faculty status at a GPC institution OR have identified a GPC faculty collaborator to work with
   • If you need to identify a GPC faculty collaborator for your study/project, complete this form to begin your request.
2. Have funding support identified
   • Projects in the planning/LOI stage may still be submitted for consideration if the associated study protocol and draft budget are in an advanced stage of development
3. Have preliminarily identified which GPC sites would be ideal for your study
4. Can provide the following information for review by the GPC's ROA Committee:
   • Project proposal
   • Project budget
   • Biosketch of requesting party/Principal Investigator
   • Documentation that a GPC faculty collaborator has been identified (if applicable) and is willing to work with you on this project

Process to Request Collaboration: 

1. Please submit your request to collaborate on the GPC Research Opportunity Assesment (ROA) form. 
2. The Research Opportunity Assessment (ROA) Committee will review your proposal.
   • You may be contacted during this process with questions and/or feedback regarding your proposed project.
3. Upon receiving preliminary approval by the ROA Committee, your project will be submitted to the GPC Governance Council for final review and approval.
4. If approved, you may proceed with feasibility queries (if applicable) so that participating GPC sites and project budgets can be finalized.
5. Collaboration terms, including conditions for services, payment arrangements and authorship, will also be finalized upon approval of the project by the GPC Governance Council.

Process to Request patient counts, de-identified data, or limited data: 

1. Have ROA approval (above)
2. Work with your local site to develop a query and analyze data locally.
   • Reference the GPC Query Data Request Process Flowchart
3. Please submit your data request on the GPC Query and Data Request form. You will need the following information: 
   • Title of your research
   • Saved search name in Babel, or a list of your search criteria.  Work with your local Honest Broker to obtain.
   • A data use description, if applicable
   • Know which institutions you wish to query for data
   • If requesting data for use – do you need a de-identified or limited data set?
   • List of your study team members, including those at the GPC institutions you wish to query for data
   • If requesting limited data, plan to upload IRB of record approval from your institution
4. The data request oversight committee will review the request
5. Data will be provided to you, likely via a REDCap project. 
6. Should your study result in a publication, please cite/acknowledge the GPC by using the grant number and publication listed below:
   • Suggested acknowledgement: “The dataset(s) used for the analyses described were obtained from the Greater Plains Collaborative, which is supported by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (CDRN-1306-04631) and institutional funding from its member organizations.”
   • Citation: Waitman LR, Aaronson LS, Nadkarni PM, Connolly DW, Campbell JR. The Greater Plains Collaborative: a PCORnet Clinical Research Data Network. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2014 Jul-Aug;21(4):637-41. doi: 10.1136/amiajnl-2014-002756. Epub 2014 Apr 28. PMID: 24778202; PMCID: PMC4078294.

We look forward to working with you!