International Collaborations in Psychiatric Research

During current times increased emphasis has been laid on scientific research. It is known that research which is limited to a particular geographical or thematic issue has its own limitations. Also it is well acknowledged now that International Collaborations are important for the growth of any scientific discipline. International collaborations could be of different types. There are collaborations between two institutions in two different countries wherein at an initial level, the institutions in different countries agree to conduct short term as well as long term researches with mutual cooperation. Second type of International Collaborations are those which are conducted under the auspices of international organisations like the World Health Organisation, UNESCO, etc. The third type of international collaborations are between individuals working in different countries. The status of such individual to individual collaborations has never emerged clearly. Whether such collaborations are considered to be a private affair or these are scientific which require support from the individual's institutions and country is not clear. It would appear that the individual to individual collaborations are the commonest type of collaborations followed by those which are supported by international organisations like WHO. International collaborations have to go through enormous difficulties before they get started. Like, for example, in our country any international collaboration has to seek clearance from different ministries, like the Ministry of Education. Health and Family Welfare, External Affairs, Finance and any other ministry depending on the subject of research. Perhaps many of the researchers also have to consult the Indian Council of Medical Research. Knowing the difficulties which could arise due to this red-tapism it may be very frustrating for those who are interested in carrying out such collaborations. Besides these administrative problems there are other issues which need to be addressed. Many times one of the nations (usually western) takes a dominating role. This is not very healthy and the collaborations should occur on equal footing, since there is no subordina-tion in academics between nations. It is the economic forwardness or backwardness which determines the domination of one collaborating nation over the other. Certain collaborations may not be useful for international research purposes, like for example, hysteria, culture bound syndrome, and any such specific disorders which occur in any one particular collaborating nation and not in others. One of the controversies regarding international collaborations arises from the ethical aspects. Whether these international collaborative researches are ethical or not. is …