[This paper is a commentary on Partnership in Research: A Tandem of Opportunities and Constraints by Francine Ducharme.]

The tenets put forward in Ducharme's article reflect a demand for knowledge development that acknowledges the changing social, political and economic realities that affect health, as well as the challenges to respond using traditional methods of scientific inquiry. Funding agencies for health research have recognized the need to include broader concepts that determine healthy outcomes. The partnering model, which has achieved success within a corporate context, has become the expected process for pursuing research. In this model, the terms partnership, collaboration, cooperation and alliance are frequently used interchangeably; definitions vary, and a contextual meaning emerges depending on the institution, the discipline or both.