Table 1 Primary research questions and PICOS elements for the review of reviews (step 1)

Framework domains

Principles, strategies, outcomes, and impacts

Research question

What differences and similarities can be identified in reported principles, strategies, outcomes, and impacts among different health and non-health research partnership approaches?

Population

Researchers, clinician scientists, trainees, policy and decision-makers, funders, patients, and other stakeholders

Intervention

Any type of research partnership approach

Comparators

Different types of research partnership approaches

Outcomes

Primary: principles, strategies, outcomes, impacts,

Secondary: partnership definitions, guiding theories/models/frameworks

Study design

Any kind of literature review

Databases and time span

MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, Education Source, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Sociology Database, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Web of Science Core Collection, and JSTOR

Other criteria

Inclusion criteria:

- Articles that describe a literature overview of research partnerships according to our definition

- Articles that describe a systematic search of the literature including search terms and databases

- Articles that describe a literature review on how research partnerships work (i.e., principles or strategies) or describe a literature review on outcomes or impacts of research partnerships

- Are published in the English language.

Exclusion criteria are:

- Articles that do not meet our definition of research partnership

- Articles that describe a review of a method or tool instead of a literature overview

- Articles that describe a literature overview of assessment tools for research partnerships as the primary study aim

- Articles that describe a literature review on knowledge translation and/or knowledge mobilization without a primary focus on research partnership.