Strengthening community operational research through exchange of tools and strategic alliances

Community operational research (COR) would benefit from forming strategic alliances with other areas of scholarly endeavor involved in tackling complex social and environmental problems. Intellectually this would strengthen COR as a community of practice, expanding its repertoire of tools and increasing uptake of COR concepts and methods by researchers outside COR. Banding together would also increase influence in research and higher education policy making to promote widespread uptake of the best ways of tackling complex problems and ensuring there is adequate funding and institutional support. A new discipline of Integration and Implementation Sciences (I2S), which aims to be a conduit between COR and others tackling complex social and environmental issues, is described, along with its origins. The role of I2S as a conduit is illustrated by presenting six tools and toolkits, which have been developed outside COR, but which may enhance its practice. They are: (1) knowledge co-production toolbox, (2) change management toolbook, (3) collaboration and team science field guide, (4) engaging and influencing policy toolkit, (5) ethical matrix and (6) matrix for distinguishing three different kinds of unknowns.