A systematic approach for reviewing research capacity within Zimbabwe's national blood service

Background Blood services need to undertake research to improve their strategic goals, operational effectiveness and promote evidence‐based policies. NBSZ has a long history of active research and undertook a systematic review of its research capacity to guide its new research strategy. In the absence of a published approach for research capacity assessment for national blood services, a framework to assess research capacity in African universities was used. Methods Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 85 NBSZ internal and external stakeholders. The interview topics were based on eight areas covered by the framework used to assess universities' research systems. Information was verified through triangulation, and recommended actions emerging from the review were validated at a national stakeholder workshop. The appropriateness of the framework for use in the setting of blood services was also evaluated. Results Synthesis of information from the multiperspective interviews highlighted key areas of NBSZ's research capacity for improvement, in particular better dissemination of NBSZ's research priorities and closer ties with academics and their institutions for preparing research proposals and jointly undertaking research projects. With minor adaptations, the framework was found to be applicable to NBSZ, and no aspects of research capacity were identified which were not covered by the framework. Discussion Our results indicate that it is feasible and useful to apply a structured process to review the research capacity of blood services. However, the framework needs to be tested in blood services and other non‐university setting to assess its usefulness and transferability.