The evolution of the academic discipline of primary care throughout the world is resulting in more primary care practitioners taking part in research. Primary care has a generalist nature, 1 and several research approaches are therefore required to understand the complex interplay between medical and psychosocial factors in the discipline.2 Collaboration is needed between primary care professionals (general practitioners, nurses, health visitors, etc) and a variety of academics with a breadth of expertise.3 In this article we give an overview of primary care research networks. These networks were established as a way to enable diverse practitioners to engage in research. We start by outlining what these networks are and what they do, using examples from the United Kingdom and elsewhere. We then go on to discuss the lessons learnt from UK experience and suggest how these lessons can be built on through better integration with emerging primary care structures.
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