Methodology
Clinical material exists in every clinic and at every department. There are enough patients. There is enough data, too. But most studies remain at the level of a dissertation read by three reviewers, or conference abstracts that no one cites.
How do you design a study correctly? Which design should you choose — and why does it matter fundamentally? How do you process the data so that the reviewer doesn't reject the article on the very first comment? How do you write a systematic review that will be accepted by a high-impact-factor journal? This is taught nowhere specifically. It is passed from scientific supervisor to postgraduate student — or not passed on at all.
NIAEM works with departments and postgraduate students not as lecturers with ready-made slides, but as methodological partners who together with you bring the study to a measurable result — registration of studies, their publication, and dissertation defense.
Postgraduate students and early-career researchers know the terms but don't understand which method to choose for their data and how to interpret the result.
Studies are designed intuitively — this creates problems both during data collection and at publication.
Faculty know how to read articles critically, but cannot always explain to a postgraduate student why a particular study design is weak and how to strengthen it.
Publications are prepared without understanding the requirements of specific journals — hence the rejections that demoralize and stall the academic careers of early-career researchers.
A department wants to develop its own research direction but has no understanding of where to start: how to register a study, how to structure a protocol, and who will provide methodological support throughout the process.
Seminars and workshops on study design
RCTs, observational studies, registries, systematic reviews. Not survey lectures, but the analysis of real protocols: what was done right, what was not, and why it matters for the result.
Analysis of the methodological rigor of clinical study protocols
As both a training tool and real expertise for departmental projects.
Review of the evidence pyramid, applicability criteria, and sources of systematic error
With examples from the therapeutic areas relevant to your department.
Training in skills for appraising the validity and applicability of results
A core skill that even experienced researchers often lack.
Preparation for peer review and writing critical commentary
Useful both for the academic growth of staff and for raising the department's status in the scientific community.
Analysis of real articles
Identifying design errors and misinterpretations of statistical methods, and understanding why the authors arrived at exactly those conclusions.
Consultations on the choice of statistical methods
For a specific task: a dissertation, an article, or a departmental research project.
Hands-on sessions with data
Descriptive statistics, regression analysis, survival analysis. Not abstract exercises, but work with participants' real data.
Help with interpreting results
How to correctly describe what the statistics showed and which errors to avoid when formulating conclusions.
Registration of studies on clinicalstudy.ru — the Russian equivalent of ClinicalTrials.gov — with the assignment of an official public number
This raises the academic status of the study, opens the possibility of engaging investigators from other centers, and strengthens your position at publication.
Development of an observational study or registry protocol at the department
From scratch or revision of an existing one.
Registration of systematic reviews in PROSPERO
Editing of scientific articles while preserving the author's voice and scientific meaning
Support at every stage
From the structure of the article to responses to reviewers. We understand the requirements of journals listed by the Russian Higher Attestation Commission (VAK), Scopus, and Web of Science, and help adapt the manuscript to a specific publication — rather than writing into the void.
Assistance in writing systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Inclusion of the department in NIAEM's network of partner universities
An opportunity for joint multicenter studies, exchange of methodological expertise, and publications with co-authors from other universities.
Symposia and schools for early-career researchers
Together with NIAEM or within your departmental events.
We don't offer a standard service package: first we figure out the specific task the department faces, what already exists, and what is missing.
It may be a one-off seminar, a series of sessions, methodological support of a specific study, or a long-term partnership.
Calculated individually for the department's tasks. The initial consultation is free.
(choose what you need)
One-off seminar
2–4 hours
Course of sessions for postgraduate students
8–16 hours
Course of sessions for faculty
8–16 hours
Turnkey methodological support of a single study
Annual subscription
Methodological support for all of the department's studies