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Centre for Clinical Research

5790 University Avenue, Room 113


Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1V7
CANADA
Tel: (902) 494-2653
Facs: (902) 429-1166
www.cdha.nshealth.ca/rmu

Research Methods Unit (RMU) Terms of Engagement

RMU mandate—The Research Methods Unit is dedicated to supporting excellence in clinical and health
research by providing research methods resources, services and specialized training to clinical investigators,
residents, graduate students, and health researchers within Capital Health, IWK, and the Dalhousie Faculties of
Medicine, Health Professions, and Dentistry.

RMU operating principles—The Research Methods Unit strives to operate in a professional, timely,
facilitative, and collaborative manner based on best practices in research and research consulting. In order to
ensure our relationship is as productive and mutually agreeable as possible, we provide the following guidelines
for using our services.

Process for • The first consultation with the RMU is free (some department-specific exceptions).
RMU initial • The process for requesting help from the RMU begins at the RMU website at
www.cdha.nshealth.ca/rmu.
contact • Download, complete and submit a Consultation Request Form (CRF), as well as any
relevant supplementary documents. See the CRF for additional details.
• Upon receipt of a completed CRF, RMU will open a project file, provide a tracking
number, and assign the appropriate consultants to the project.
• RMU will then contact you to arrange your initial consult.
• At the meeting we will discuss your project needs.
• If we can address your questions within the typical initial consult time of 1 hour,
there is no charge (some department-specific exceptions).
• If you decide to engage RMU for your project, please see below.

RMU consulting If you undertake to use our services:


• At the initial consult we will discuss your needs and agree upon project goals and
process
deadlines. We will also discuss RMU terms of engagement, including fees,
authorship guidelines, and acknowledgement policies.
• From then on you will work directly with your assigned RMU consultant for the
duration of the project.
• The RMU consultant(s) will track hours worked for you. RMU will bill you quarterly
or at the end of your project, whichever comes first, according to the RMU fee
structure. Other arrangements may be possible but must be negotiated in advance
with the RMU Coordinator/Analyst.

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If you are • If you are applying for funding and wish to receive a quote for services from the
RMU, please initiate your request:
applying for
o at least 4-6 weeks in advance if you need/wish assistance with finalising
funding your methods.
o at least 2-3 weeks in advance if your methods are complete and you
simply require a quote for RMU services.
• RMU provides reasonable ‘up-front’ support on methods portions of grant
proposal protocols free of charge in exchange for your commitment to use RMU
services for the project as quoted when it is funded.
• Your RMU consultant will work with you to prepare an estimate of hours required
for your project.
• At the same time, we will send you a Letter of Support Checklist to complete. The
Checklist captures the relevant information about the funding opportunity and
about your project that you wish to be included in your letter.
• Once you return the completed checklist, and we have received the estimate for
hours from your RMU consultant, we will prepare a letter of support that includes
a description of the RMU, a summary of your project, a description of the RMU
services you are requesting, and an itemized quote. We will email you a signed
.pdf version and hold the hard copy on file unless you make other arrangements in
advance.
• Please notify the RMU of the results of your application and updated timelines so
that we can ensure consultants are available for the upcoming work.

Deadlines • RMU consultants strive to address queries on a timely and professional basis at all
times.
• Consultants will attempt to attend all research meetings, provided they are given
sufficient notice.
• The RMU has a substantial number of projects in progress at any one time, and
last-minute requests cannot always be addressed.

Project • If the RMU is requested to contribute in a substantive way to research methods


design or analysis:
accountability
o RMU and research teams will work together to develop a mutually
acceptable project accountability statement that outlines expectations.
o RMU retains the right to review applications and manuscripts prior to
submission (see Acknowledgements and Authorship sections below).
• If there are substantive changes to the project, we will work together to adjust the
statement and/or billing structure accordingly.

Ethics • RMU provides support in preparation of protocol methods for ethics approval and
funding applications. However, you may not indicate RMU support in your
submission without review and approval of the final protocol by your RMU
consultant(s), and without prior written approval from the RMU.
• All research projects brought to the RMU must have ethics approval before data
collection begins.
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Fees • RMU is responsible to our partners to recoup a reasonable portion of our


operating costs from our consulting activities.
• Funds we recover support existing services and also facilitate adding new positions
with new expertise to the RMU.
• The RMU encourages Departments and Divisions to consider negotiating annual
payment arrangements on behalf of their clinical investigators and
residents/trainees in order to facilitate ease of access to RMU services. Please
contact the RMU Coordinator for further information.
• Please see the RMU Fees Guide on the RMU website for further information.

Acknowledging • RMU does not authorise acknowledgement of use of our services without our prior
approval. You must first request and receive written approval if you wish to
RMU
indicate use of RMU services:
o in preparing your protocol for funding or ethics review, or
o when writing manuscripts.
• When providing written approval, RMU will supply the acknowledgement wording
to be used in the text.

Authorship The RMU supports research analysis and publication, as follows:


• Authorship/acknowledgement credit are separate issues from RMU consulting fees
(and one does not replace the other).
• The RMU does NOT authorise authorship credit or acknowledgement of use of
RMU services in manuscripts without our prior written approval.
• Authorship credit is expected when/if RMU consultants make contributions to the
manuscript that meet the ICMJE criteria (Vancouver Guidelines) for authorship. If
authorship is the appropriate role, the RMU consultant will have full co-author
privilege in reviewing and revising their sections of the manuscript.
• Otherwise if acknowledgement is appropriate, the RMU consultant must review
and approve the final manuscript before acknowledgement of the RMU is
approved.
• When providing written approval, RMU supply the appropriate name, affiliation
and address wording to be used in the manuscript.
• Please see the RMU Authorship Guidelines on the RMU website for further
information.

For further information: www.cdha.nshealth.ca/rmu

RMU Coordinator/Analyst:
Camille Angus
Dalhousie Department of Community Health & Epidemiology
and Capital Health Research
camille.angus@dal.ca
(902) 494-2653

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