Evaluating collaborations in comparative effectiveness research: opportunities and challenges for social network analysis

Multidisciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration has become a key feature of comparative effectiveness research (CER), and CER funders have made promotion of these types of collaboration an implicit, and sometimes explicit, goal of funding. An important challenge in evaluating CER programs is understanding if and how different forms of collaboration are associated with successful CER projects. This article explores the potential use of social network analysis to address research questions about the associations between collaboration and the success of CER projects.