För att minska kunskapsluckorna inom odontologin krävs samarbete mellan lärosätena. Det ger även möjlighet till akademisk meritering, vilket är angeläget då antalet seniora forskare med behörighet för forskningshandledning i Sverige är färre än någonsin. EndoReCo (Endodontic Research Collaboration) är ett skandinaviskt forskningsnätverk i endodonti som kan ta del av just dessa fördelar.

Collaboration is essential to focus on the urgent research questions and to fill knowledge gaps in Odontology. Larger research consortiums have a better potential to utilize different competencies and other resources, and consequently increase research output. Bigger, more complex projects can be undertaken, which in turn improves the potential to attract external funding. Collaboration with other institutions also facilitates academic meriting, which is highly desirable from a Swedish perspective, especially since the number of senior researchers with formal competence to supervise doctoral research projects is lower than ever before. Here, we present EndoReCo, a Scandinavian research network in Endodontics initiated a decade ago with these very opportunities in mind. The article describes the results of this collaboration to date, highlights the success factors and difficulties, and aims to inspire others to similar collaborations in other disciplines.