Social accountability in research: a glimpse of where we are, a vision for the future

Abstract

Background

While much focus has been on training healthcare professionals to be more socially accountable, research itself must also evolve to reflect these values. This study seeks to explore the transformative potential of socially accountable research networks, locally and globally. We explore how SA is represented in research posters at four conferences, highlighting the need for abstracts to report socially accountable practices.

Methods

This observational study selected four academic conferences held between November 2024 and September 2025 to review poster abstracts on-site or via the conference website. Our team used a custom-developed scale, verified by two SA experts, to characterize SA levels reported in conference abstracts or posters. Indicators of interest included institutional social mission, project focus, presence and role of community partnerships, level of community involvement, and health equity improvement.

Results

We reviewed 136 presentation abstracts from four conferences. Approximately 10% of abstracts with known institutional etiology explicitly noted SA in their institutions' mission statements, and 53.3% implicitly mentioned SA values. Community partnerships were absent in 51.5% of posters. When present, community partners most commonly participated as research subjects (81.0%) and assisted with data collection (49.2%). Only 7.7% of posters demonstrated the highest level of community involvement. Evidence of actual or anticipated improvements in health equity was identified in 20.8% of posters. 

Conclusion

A review of conference abstracts demonstrated limited evidence of social accountability, reflected by a lack of alignment with institutional missions, a majority lacking community partnerships, low levels of meaningful involvement, and infrequent improvements in health equity.