Table 1.

Examples of facilitators and barriers from selected previous studies on the research to policy process

Authors	Country	Facilitators	Barriers
Aaserud et al. (2005)	Included countries from Africa, Latin America and Asia	–Interaction between researchers and policy-makers –Context-specific clinical research/evidence –Information dissemination/publications –Cost-effectiveness	–Political interests –Context-specific –Lack of support from policy-makers
Albert et al. (2007)	Mali	–Information that can be trusted –Short concise documents –Researchers acting as policy-makers (technical training)	–Limited access to and capacity in accessing research findings –Language barriers –Low priority of importance of research
Hennink and Stephenson (2005)	–India –Malawi –Pakistan –Tanzania	–Improving ‘packaging’ of research findings that consider the needs of different policy audiences –Widening of target audiences for research dissemination	–Lack of formal communication channels –Lack of collaborative research –Format and interpretation of research findings –Political influences
Trostle et al. (1999)	Mexico	–International support –Political support –Informal communication	–Questionable quality of research –Lack of resources –Favouring experience over research