ERBP – European Renal Best Practice

I. Duties of the ERBP 

1. Disseminating, endorsing and stimulating implementation and translation of guidance in nephrology, through official publications in ERA Journals, following the collaboration with guideline production bodies (i.e. KDIGO) and/or other Societies.
2. Producing statements (consensus or controversy statements) related to best practice in collaboration with other ERA bodies and/or clinical practice documents in the field of nephrology.

 

II. ERBP Core Team composition 

The ERBP will be composed of a Core Team with the following four persons: ERBP Chair, the Renal Science Chair and the Editors in Chief of the ERA Journals.

The ERBP Chair must be an ERA Council member at the time of his/her election. His/her mandate is for 3 years. He/she should be nominated as ERBP Chair Elect one year before the end of the term of the current Chair. He/she will work closely in collaboration with the current Chair until he/she officially starts his/her term the following year. During this time, he/she will have voice but no vote in the Core Team and he/she will be considered Chair-Elect.

The term of the ERBP Core Team members will follow the term that each member has within its main role, except for the Chair whose term has been mentioned in the previous clause.

At the end of the term within the ERBP, each Core Team member will receive a diploma, for more information one should refer to the appropriate section in the “General Rules for ERA Committees”.

 

III. ERBP Core Team meetings

1. The ERBP Core Team should meet regularly to pursue its goals, via teleconference.
2. Once a year, the Chair of the ERBP Core Team Board must present an annual report on the previous year’s ERBP projects and potential future projects, normally at the Spring Council in February if he/she is a current Council member, if not this will be done during a virtual Council meeting in this same period.

 

IV. Call for ERBP Projects

1. A call for projects will be available on the ERA webpage (ERBP section) for proposals submitted from all ERA Bodies. A specific template for this purpose will be available on the said webpage.
2. The ERBP Core Team can also pro-actively approach the ERA Bodies or any other entity asking for a project on a specific topic.
3. Each initiative must comply with a fixed structure that must include the following:
   • Description of the project and objectives/outcome
   • Structure of the task force (expert participants who will produce the paper)
   • If a a methodologist is needed he/she can be appointed ad hoc
   • Timeline of the initiative (beginning, development, closure)
   • If a statistician is needed, the Core Team and/or the task force can appoint/propose one who is already present in the journal Editorial Boards
   • If the proposal includes YNP members, it is highly recommended to select them from the Journal Fellows or the YNP members from the Working Group Boards
   • Normally no funds will be provided to these projects but if this occurs, a clear detailed budget must be included in the project proposal as well
4. Each project must be evaluated by the ERBP Core Team before the initiative can start for feasibility/need and eventual cost/effectiveness. The proposal does not require additional evaluation by any other ERA body as it will be peer-reviewed by the journal once the output article is submitted
5. The Chair is responsible for coordinating the various task forces and regularly up-dating the Core Team on their activities and, when appropriate, the Council.
6. ERBP will also evaluate projects that are submitted by other Societies.
7. All the projects must be approved by the Council before they can become effective and thus start.

 

V. Output and visibility

It is recommended that the output of ERBP be submitted for publication in ERA journals, subject to the usual peer review process and the Editor’s final decision. For initiatives done in collaboration with other societies encore publications are strongly encouraged.

The ERBP Core Team cannot automatically be part of the authors.

Any publication or report of ERBP must clearly mention the fact that ERBP is a body of ERA. The sentence approved by Council related to this matter is: “This article (to be adapted accordingly) was written by (to be adapted accordingly) on behalf of ERBP which is an official body of the ERA (European Renal Association).”

Form
The project application form can be obtained by contacting the ERA Headquarters at the following address: erbp@era-online.org.

 

Last update: May 2024