Evaluating a novel approach to stimulate open science collaborations: a case series of "study-a-thon" events within the OHDSI and European IMI communities

The research process is generally time-consuming, requiring considerable efforts and resources and planning over an extended duration of time before its results, such as via publications. Meanwhile, patients, clinicians, and healthcare providers need evidence to support decision-making from individual treatment to populations and public health policy, and more quickly than we have been used to, to date. This article describes an approach to accelerating the research process, bringing together relevant research and clinical practitioners, whilst not undermining confidence in the research results. Within this article the research event, or study-a-thon, is described, using six examples since 2017, within an international research network, Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI). These examples help illustrate the steps required to conduct a study-a-thon, the use of health data under the right conditions, and learning from this process for others to consider using study-a-thons to accelerate their own research process where relevant. For the authors and colleagues in the OHDSI network, the open nature of conducting research via study-a-thons can also ensure full transparency of the process for all involved, as well as being able to reproduce results more readily, a key principle in good scientific conduct.