Comments on navigating complexities: Improving evidence quality in Indian medical education research

Dear Editor,

I read with great interest the guest editorial by Dongre and Pandya titled “Navigating complexities: Improving evidence quality in Indian medical education research.”^[1] I commend the authors for articulating with clarity the nuanced challenges faced in Indian medical education research. I wish to offer some reflections that echo and extend their observations.

First, the editorial aptly highlights the gap in methodological rigor. Many faculty, despite their enthusiasm, struggle with foundational aspects such as framing research questions, choosing appropriate study designs, and defining outcome metrics. This aligns with the authors’ call for research designs that move beyond “overly simplistic” models to capture the complexity of educational systems.

Second, the authors rightly emphasize contextual and systemic barriers. In practice, Institutional Ethics Committees often lack the experience to appraise educational research protocols, particularly those involving classroom interventions. Several peers during informal interactions reported institutional resistance rooted more in administrative hierarchy than in pedagogical concerns – an issue subtly noted in the editorial as “resistance to innovation” and the need for dedicated institutional teams to foster a research culture.

Third, I experienced first-hand the publication barriers mentioned. My manuscript on a single-group educational intervention was rejected by a journal for lacking Clinical Trial Registry of India registration – despite having requisite ethical clearance and no clinical component.^[2] This reflects how educational research is often assessed using biomedical yardsticks, as noted by Dongre and Pandya^[1] when they critique the misalignment between evidence expectations in education and traditional medical paradigms.

Finally, the editorial’s mention of the lack of structured pathways for research advancement is particularly resonant. I found few opportunities to deepen my expertise in educational research exist, outside of self-directed learning or reference texts such as those by Adkoli and Ray.^[3] The absence of scaffolded growth pathways remains a major lacuna.

Through this letter, I wish not only to endorse the concerns raised by the authors but also to reaffirm, through lived experience, that these are not abstract issues – they are real, pressing, and deserving of policy-level attention.