Table 1.

Commonly used technologies and identified papers from the review.

Technology	Identified papers	Description
Bespoke e-learning platforms	Pinkney et al (2013)4	Used during collaborator training to ensure standardised teaching and assessment.
	Nepogodiev et al (2014)5
	Chapman et al (2015)6
	StarSurg collaborative (2016)7
	Nepogodiev et al (2015)8
	GlobalSurg collaborative (2016)9
	GlobalSurg collaborative (2017)10
	LSRG (2017)15
	RSTN (2015)16
	Aiken et al (2013)17
	Hamilton et al (2013)23
Email	Pinkney et al (2013)4	Collaborator recruitment and information dissemination once trials were launched.
	Nepogodiev et al (2014)5
	Chapman et al (2015)6
	StarSurg collaborative (2016)7
	Nepogodiev et al (2015)8
	Shorrock et al (2015)12
	Khatri et al (2015)13
	Riddell et al (2015)19
	RSTN (2014)20
	NWRC (2014)22
Webpages	Nepogodiev et al (2014)5	Designated web pages for specific projects (micro-web pages) or organisational specific web pages used for collaborator recruitment.
	Chapman et al (2015)6
	StarSurg collaborative (2016)7
	Nepogodiev et al (2015)8
	GlobalSurg collaborative (2016)9
	GlobalSurg collaborative (2017)10
	ISOS (2017)11
RedCap	Nepogodiev et al (2014)5	Secure electronic data capture platform.
	Nepogodiev et al (2015)8
	GlobalSurg collaborative (2016)9
	LSRG (2017)15
	RSTN (2014)20
	NWRC (2014)22
Twitter	Nepogodiev et al (2014)5	Used for collaborator recruitment and to facilitate communication with collaborators once trials were launched.
	Chapman et al (2015)6
	StarSurg collaborative (2016)7
	Nepogodiev et al (2015)8
	Shorrock et al (2015)12
	Lewis et al (2014)18
YouTube	Chapman et al (2015)6	Used in conjunction with Facebook and YouTube to facilitate collaborator recruitment.
	Nepogodiev et al (2015)8
	Khatri et al (2015)13
Facebook	Chapman et al (2015)6	Used in conjunction with Twitter and YouTube to facilitate collaborator recruitment.
	Nepogodiev et al (2015)8
	Khatri et al (2015)13
Eventbrite	Chapman et al(2015)6	Event management software used to engage collaborators via regional meetings.
	StarSurg collaborative (2016)7
WhatsApp	Riddell et al(2015)19	Used to facilitate communication between collaborators once trials were launched.
Basecamp	SWARM (2015)21	Project management software used throughout.