Capacity Strengthening Initiatives for Research Management and Administration Professionals in LMICs: A Scoping Review

Abstract

What is new?

Research Management and Administration Professionals (RMAPs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are critical to research quality and equitable partnerships but face fragmented, under-resourced and poorly professionalised development pathways, with limited access to context-appropriate capacity strengthening initiatives.

Despite growing recognition of their importance, there has been no prior systematic or scoping review describing which capacity strengthening programmes exist for RMAPs in LMICs, which competencies they target, how they are delivered or evaluated, or where key gaps remain. This review addresses that gap and provides the first framework-based mapping of such initiatives.

What was the approach?

A scoping review was conducted following the methodological framework “Steps for Conducting a Scoping Review” and reported in line with PRISMA‑ScR guidelines.

Eligibility criteria focused on capacity strengthening interventions for RMAPs involved in research management or support in LMIC settings, including training, workshops, mentorship, workplace learning and professional frameworks.

Searches of Medline, ASSIA, AMED, Business Source Ultimate, Educational Administration Abstracts, Regional Business News and Scopus (2004 onwards) were undertaken in January 2025 with an updated search in September 2025, supplemented by structured Google-based grey literature searches and purposive identification of initiatives via professional networks.

Citations were screened in Rayyan using a multi reviewer process.

Data were extracted using a piloted template and synthesised narratively; interventions were categorised into five capacity strengthening types and mapped against the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) Professional Competency Framework using a three-level evidence scale.

What is the academic impact?

Fifteen identified initiatives were implemented between 2011 and 2025, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa with one in Brazil and none documented from Asia, the Pacific or the Middle East, indicating both emerging activity and substantial geographic gaps in the published and grey literature.

Across these initiatives, systems level capacity strengthening was most common (11/15), followed by mentorship and peer-to-peer support (10/15), short-term training (9/15), embedded or long-term training (8/15) and professional frameworks or standards (5/15), reflecting a strong orientation towards organisational reform complemented by varied people-focused approaches.

Mapping to the SARIMA Professional Competency Framework showed concentrated strengths in operational domains, particularly organisation and delivery of research management services, pre-award funding, and aspects of post-award management and data and information management, while strategic domains such as planning and policy development, researcher development, partnerships and collaboration, and research uptake and impact were inconsistently or only indirectly addressed.

Only seven initiatives reported any evaluation of outcomes relevant to RMAPs, with considerable heterogeneity in methods and a predominance of short term or descriptive assessments; robust, competency-aligned evaluation of long-term individual and institutional change was rare.
By consolidating this evidence, classifying intervention models and systematically mapping competency coverage and evaluation practices, the review contributes a structured overview of how research management capacity is currently conceptualised and strengthened in LMICs and highlights critical gaps in strategic competency development, professionalisation and evidence on effectiveness within Research Management and Administration studies.

What is the wider impact?

The findings underscore that strengthening research management in LMICs cannot rely solely on short-term training or isolated system reforms; institutional leaders and funders need to invest in sustained, competency-based pathways that integrate RMAP roles into human resource structures, support career progression and embed research management into organisational governance.

Practitioners designing capacity strengthening initiatives should explicitly incorporate strategic and leadership competencies, alongside operational skills, to position RMAPs as strategic actors in research systems rather than purely as compliance-focused support staff.

The review highlights mentorship, peer learning and communities of practice as recurrent and valued components of initiatives, suggesting that formalising and resourcing such networks through regional associations, consortia and institutional partnerships could be a scalable, context-appropriate mechanism for ongoing professional development.

Addressing geographic underrepresentation and improving documentation, evaluation and sharing of RMAP capacity strengthening efforts, potentially through curated repositories of tools and training materials, would support more equitable access to high-quality resources and enable cross-regional learning among research and management practitioners.