Academic-clinical research partnerships can benefit academic and clinical partners when goals are clearly articulated and mutually determined and include increased research dissemination and lower research costs. This article explores the history of academic-clinical research partnerships and discusses the drivers of collaborative academic-clinical research relationships, resources from academia and clinical sites, and sustainability of collaborative partnerships. Through collaboration, academic-clinical partners can improve clinical outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

Aims:The aims of the study were to compare characteristics, resources, benefits and outcomes of academic-clinical collaborations of nursing researcher leaders from academic, clinical and joint-employer sites. Background: Few research-based publications addressed academic-clinical research collaborations. New knowledge could increase nursing and multidisciplinary research productivity, including implementation science. Design: An anonymous survey using a 40-item questionnaire. Methods: Information letters with a link to the questionnaire were emailed to United States nursing research leaders. Data were grouped by institution type: academic, clinical or joint-employer. Analyses included Kruskal-Wallis tests for ordered responses, Pearson's chi-square test or Fisher's exact test for categorical responses and Cohen's Kappa agreement statistic for expected and actual time devoted to research. STROBE guidelines were followed. Results: Of 120 respondents from academic (n = 60; 50.0%), clinical (n = 53; 41.2%)and joint-employer (n = 7; 5.8%) sites, 78.3%, 92.3% and 100%, respectively, were from metropolitan areas. Mean (SD) priority for active collaborations was higher at jointemployer sites; p = .002. Clinical sites were more likely to have directors of evidencebased practice (p = .031) and informatics (p = .008) and librarians (p = .029). Sites with collaborations were more likely to have access to research subjects (p = .008) and