A patient, service user, carer or member of the public who is actively involved in shaping and conducting research as a recognised partner, typically with named role, compensation and decision-making influence.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A patient partner is named co-investigator on a grant and helps interpret qualitative interview data.
Is an instance
Patient partners are paid at a documented per-hour rate aligned with researcher pay scales.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A patient partner listed in a grant application with no contractual or time commitment.
Not an instance
Token participation: a patient consulted once at study start with no further engagement.

Editorial commentary

Patient partners differ from research subjects: they contribute lived experience, perspectives and expertise to research design, conduct, analysis and dissemination. Best practice (UK Standards for Public Involvement, INVOLVE, Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research in Canada) emphasises early involvement, training and support, fair compensation for time, named co-authorship where appropriate, and reciprocal learning. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in the US likewise embeds patient partners into its funded research model.

References

PCORI Engagement Rubric. Canada SPOR Patient Engagement framework. NIHR INVOLVE guidance.

Also known as

Patient research partner · Patient co-investigator

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Patient partner"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/patient-partner" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/patient-partner",
  "name": "Patient partner",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/patient-partner",
  "description": "A patient, service user, carer or member of the public who is actively involved in shaping and conducting research as a recognised partner, typically with named role, compensation and decision-making influence.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/engagement-impact-sdg#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/patient-partner",
  "sameAs": [
    "Patient research partner",
    "Patient co-investigator"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:22:57",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

View CASRAI adoption →