Research & Policy


Research Requests

 

The AOFAS Board of Directors supports opportunities for AOFAS members to participate in research initiatives that enhance patient care and improve the quality of foot and ankle orthopaedic research. Please review the guidelines below and complete a Collaborative Research Request Application if you would like to utilize AOFAS resources for your research project.
 
If you have questions, please contact the AOFAS by email at research@aofas.org or by phone at 800-235-4855 or +1-847-698-4654 (outside US).

Collaborative Research Requests

AOFAS members may request to utilize AOFAS resources to execute research-related projects. Completed requests will be evaluated by the appropriate AOFAS committee, with recommendations submitted to the AOFAS Research Council for approval on a quarterly basis. Please review the Research Collaboration Policies and Procedures and (if applicable) AOFAS Database Study Request Policies and Procedures before submitting your request. There is a nonrefundable $200 USD application fee for all research requests. AOFAS Database Studies will also incur a fee of $50/hour if the data analyst's work exceeds four hours.

Guidelines for all request types:

  • Requestors must be AOFAS members in good standing.

  • IRB approval is required when applicable.

  • Surveys/projects are limited to those related to orthopaedic foot and ankle surgery/healthcare, and should not include information regarding commercial products.

  • Results should be available to AOFAS members by submitting an abstract for presentation at an AOFAS meeting and manuscript for publication in Foot & Ankle International or Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics.

 

Request Types

Membership Survey Project Request
Research proposal designs requesting a survey of AOFAS membership. Each survey accepted for execution will be disseminated to AOFAS members via email notification, which will include a survey link.

AOFAS Research Database Project Request
Small or large retrospective or prospective projects that intend to use the Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Registry (OFAR) dataset as part of study design. Applications must indicate whether additional AOFAS resources are required for the study. A final analysis will be distributed to researchers, but the raw data remains the property of the AOFAS and will not be released.

Non-Database Collaborative Research Project Request
Large retrospective or prospective studies that are not expected to require the OFAR dataset for execution but that are expected to require significant AOFAS resources (personnel time, funding, administrative support, etc).