ResearchMatch.org matches up U.S. laboratory researchers and participants
The NIH has just announced a great new tool for clinical trials and other IRB-approved research! ResearchMatch.org allows people interested in participating in research to sign up to learn about specific studies they might want to participate in. It also lets researchers to use the system to recruit participants for their research. In contrast to our online research focus, this tool fills a gap in research done in the laboratory, where it can also be very hard for researchers to recruit study participants.
Despite being administered by the NIH, ResearchMatch.org is for any IRB-approved researcher (not just clinical trials). It contrasts in that way with research-participant match-up site ClinicalTrials.gov. Another difference between the sites is that ClinicalTrials.gov makes the participant do the work of finding research they’re interested in participating in, while ResearchMatch.org makes it the job of the researchers to contact participants that match their needs (the system protects potential participants’ personal information however).
Currently, the site only allows researchers to use the system if their university or institution is a participating member. But they’re encouraging researchers to sign up for information and express interest even if their institution is not currently participating; I don’t know if the site will eventually stop being mediated by institutions, or if they’re just hoping to get lots more institutions to sign up soon.
A side effect of the institution model is that opportunities are sparse in some parts of the U.S., and if you’re interested in participating in research in those regions, you may be out of luck for a while. But I don’t know, maybe the network will grow fast — this tool seems like a terrific idea, and I hope lots of research institutions, researchers, and people interested in participating all sign up.
I also hope that if this system is successful, other countries will emulate it. For that matter, maybe the U.S. is lagging behind here and other countries already have such systems; does anyone know of such research matchmaking sites elsewhere?
