The opportunity exists for individual AOA members and CORD member affiliates to submit survey requests on a quarterly basis for review by the Collaborative Orthopaedic Educational Research Group (COERG), which is an inclusive, multi-institutional forum with the purpose of improving the quality and impact of education research in orthopaedic surgery. Membership within COERG represents more than half of orthopaedic residency programs and is structured with a rotating governing board comprised of 11 members who serve for 3-year terms. The COERG governing board reviews submitted study proposals on a quarterly basis and meets to discuss proposals a week before an at-large COERG Zoom call. A minimum 90% of COERG governing board members must be from CORD member institutions.

COERG is working with AOA/CORD to review research study requests on a regular basis. Reviews will be based on these five domains:

  1. Clarity of objectives
  2. Methodology
  3. Innovation
  4. Potential for impact
  5. Potential for future studies

Project Submission Cycle Deadlines
Quarter 4 (2025): October 23, 2025
Quarter 1: January 22, 2026
Quarter 2: April 23, 2026
Quarter 3: July 23, 2026
Quarter 4: October 22, 2026

COERG Quarterly Meetings (8:00pm EST)
Quarter 4 (2025): November 6, 2025
Quarter 1: February 5, 2026
Quarter 2: May 7, 2026
Quarter 3: August 6, 2026
Quarter 4: November 5, 2026

Process

  1. Education-related survey requests to the AOA/CORD must complete the COERG Study Submission Form and the survey questions, following the timeline outlined above. The Study Submission form sets the standards for quality research and provides a structure for evaluating proposed surveys according to the 5 domains listed above.
  2. Upon review, COERG may decide to provide written feedback and suggestions for editing the survey questions.
  3. Published article authors will be asked to write a summary of the research for publication in the CORD Report monthly e-newsletter. AOA/CORD encourages submission to the AOA Critical Issues in Education JBJS Open Access Channel.
  4. AOA/CORD will post on its website a listing of current and past research studies conducted by or with the assistance of AOA/CORD and COERG.

Research Study Request Form

Download and complete a survey request application below.

COERG Study Submission Form

To assist the collection of relevant demographic data for your study, we recommend use of the most applicable demographic questions provided in the link below. The standardization of demographic questions allows the potential for future or related studies to be performed with a clearer appreciation of similarities and/or differences in study populations.

COERG New Study Demographics Form

COERG Authorship Guidelines: Authorship to be based on ICMJE guidelines. Named authors are standard, these being the PI and the team that designed and led the study. All others will be listed as COERG group authors with members listed out as supplementary. Examples of previous authorship can be found here: PMID: 38214651, 37501912.

Published Studies

A list of COERG-endorsed publications is provided here: Published COERG-Endorsed Studies

It is important to note the following

  1. This policy is for individual members wishing to utilize the AOA member list, or subset thereof, to solicit member feedback on member developed surveys.  All approved surveys would be sent from the AOA with the AOA logo to identify it as an approved survey of the organization.
  2. This policy does not preclude individual members from posting survey links on AOA discussion forums. CORD members may survey each other through the CORD Exchange for at-will participation. Note: The AOA is not responsible for communicating, analyzing, or promoting surveys distributed by individual members via the CORD Exchange or other AOA discussion forum.  Individuals utilizing the Forums in this manner will be encouraged to share results with CORD members on the Exchange and asked to write something for the CORD section of the website as a resource.

COERG Background

The Collaborative Orthopaedic Educational Research Group (COERG) was founded in 2021 to assist the orthopaedic training community and improve the quality
of resident and faculty education and professional development related research. This collaborative research group is composed of orthopaedic residency program directors and interested faculty. COERG seeks to improve survey responsiveness by endorsing 1-2 studies per quarter, thereby limiting the burden on residents and program directors. As of Fall 2022, we have partnered with the American Orthopaedic Association’s (AOA) Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors (CORD) to also review survey requests for AOA/CORD related educational research.

Quarterly meetings (February, May, August, November) are open to all program directors, faculty, residents, and students interested in collaborating on proposed
studies reviewed by the COERG Governing Board. If you are interested in seeking endorsement by COERG or CORD, please complete the study submission form. The submission form will be reviewed by the Governing Board , at which point you will receive written feedback from the board. If the study is endorsed, you will have the opportunity to deliver a 5 minute presentation (3 slides) to participating programs at the next COERG Quarterly Meeting.

COERG Governing Board
S. Elizabeth Ames, MD, FAOA; Tessa Balach, MD, FAOA; Randy Cohn, MD; David Greenberg, MD, FAOA; Dawn LaPorte, MD, FAOA; Mary Mulcahey, MD, FAOA; Joshua C. Patt, MD, FAOA; Brent Ponce, MD, FAOA; Afshin Razi, MD, FAOA; Kimberly J. Templeton, MD, FAOA; and M. Daniel Wongworawat, MD, FAOA