A recent survey from the Joint Task Force for Clinical Trial Competency (JTF) asked clinical research professionals around the world to self-evaluate their competencies in the eight domains of its Core Competency Framework version 3.1. Outcomes were measured in terms of role, years of experience, educational level, professional certification, institutional affiliation and continuing education participation. According to the data, professionally certified respondents' self-assessments rated their competencies at higher levels than those lacking professional certification. The results support the incorporation of additional content on research methods, protocol design, medical product development and regulation and data management and informatics within pre-professional and continuing professional education training curricula, regardless of participants' role, experience or educational level. The findings validate and expand recommendations from a 2016 JTF survey and other polls. "We further recommend that clinical and translational research organizations and clinical sites assess training needs locally, using both subjective and objective measures of skill and knowledge," the authors advise.

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