ERS provides financial support to groups of members looking to form a task force to produce Guidelines, Statements and Technical Standards. Once published, the documents provide clarity and direction for a number of topics in respiratory medicine with the aim of improving clinical practice.

All ERS members are eligible to apply for funding to set up a Task Force.

Task Forces are ad hoc groups set up to address a specific issue in respiratory medicine. They aim to produce Clinical Practice Guidelines, Statements or Technical Standards that then are adopted as official ERS documents on issues related to respiratory medicine.

The new ERS Short Guideline and Short Statement are designed to respond very quickly to the release of new evidence that could lead to marked changes in clinical practice. As a result, the ERS offers to his members support to address, whenever required, burning questions on which urgent and precise reactions are required. Short guidance projects are divided into 2 types of documents:

• Short guidelines, developed according to the GRADE approach and aiming at providing clinical research recommendation
• Short statements, based on a systematic literature search but without grading of the evidence. These documents cannot contain clinical practice recommendation.

Both type of manuscripts are intended to be concise, very focused and developed within a maximum of 1 year.

The ERS also encourages the development of joint documents with other socities. ERS members involved in a Task Force with another society are therefore encouraged to contact the ERS Guidelines Working Group (at scientific@ersnet.org) to discuss the opportunity to develop a joint project.

Once published, manuscripts developed by ERS Task Forces are made available on the ERS E-learning website.

How to apply for funding

ERS Task Forces: Guideline, Statement and Technical Standard

ERS accepts applications for new Task Forces twice a year:

• 1 February
• 1 June

Priority will be given to projects which aim to develop official ERS Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Important: only proposals fully filled in (including Task Force members' Conflict of Interest (COI) forms) will be reviewed. Applicants who submit an incomplete proposal will be asked to resubmit it at the next deadline. Should you have any questions regarding the application form, please do not hesitate to contact the ERS Office prior to the deadline.

Important documents:

• ERS Task Force Guideline and Application Form (for ERS only projects)
• ERS Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Form
• List of frequently asked questions on ERS document development.

ERS Short Guideline and Short Statement

ERS accepts application for Short Guideline and Short Statement year-round.

Important: only proposals fully filled in (including Task Force members' Conflict of Interest (COI) forms) will be reviewed. Applicants who submit an incomplete proposal will be asked to resubmit it at the next deadline. Should you have any questions regarding the application form, please do not hesitate to contact the ERS Office prior to the deadline.

Important documents:

• ERS Short Guideline and Short Statement Guideline and Application Form (for ERS only projects)
• ERS Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Form
• List of frequently asked questions on ERS document development.

ERS/ATS joint Task Forces

The next deadline to submit an ERS/ATS Task Force proposal is July 2020 (late submissions will not be accepted).

You may refere to the following files for further instructions:

• Instructions for joint ERS/ATS applications
• ERS Guidelines for Task Forces

Should you have any question on joint ERS/ATS task force proposal, please contact guidelines_statements@ersnet.org.

All ERS members are eligible to apply for funding to set up a Task Force aiming to develop Clinical Practice Guidelines, Statements or Technical Standard Assessments.

Task Forces joint with other societies (except ATS)

ERS also encourages the development of joint documents with other societies. If you are an ERS member involved in a Task Force with another society, contact the ERS Guidelines Working Group (at guidelines_statements@ersnet.org) to discuss the opportunity to develop an official joint project.

For any other questions, please contact the ERS office at guidelines_statements@ersnet.org.

Methodological Support and patients' involvement

Useful documents:

• Useful resources for ERS guidelines developers
• A step by step guide of the GRADE approach
• Guide for chairs on involving patients in Task Forces

The ERS has two in-house methodologists who can help the Task Force Chairs apply a correct methodology throughout their Task Force development. They can also be contacted for any questions relating to the completion of an application. Any questions for the ERS methodologists can be sent to scientific@ersnet.org.

SUGGESTED TIMELINES TO DEVELOP TASK FORCE DOCUMENTS:

• Milestones for guidelines
• Milestones for statements
• Milestones for technical standard documents

AGREE TOOL

The ERS Science Council recommends to use the AGREE tool to develop Guidelines. Please consult the AGREE website.

Ongoing Task Forces