There are countless reasons why pediatric radiologists should support and be involved in medical research: improving imaging technology, better disease detection, standardization of best imaging pathways, efficiency and cost reduction, improved safety – to name a few – and all for children. But how many of our colleagues are actively involved in research? How many know how to do it? Governments, insurers, hospitals and health care systems are looking for ways to reduce health care costs and are putting greater demands on our clinical time. That squeeze can reduce precious time available for research. And what is happening to research funding? It is easy to defer the funding of research while prioritizing today’s financial crisis – something the U.S. government did by reducing National Institutes of Health funding with the sequester of 2013. Finding money to support research has become more and more challenging both in the U.S. and in Europe. We are students of science and recognize how essential today’s research is to improve tomorrow’s clinical care.

The editors of Pediatric Radiology have asked us to organize a research forum to be published in the journal during the next several months. These articles written by our colleagues address issues mentioned above. The Pediatric Radiology Research Forum rubric will also facilitate future publications on research topics. We hope this series will inspire junior and senior pediatric radiologists, mid-level faculty, scientists and department leaders to further support and pursue research in our field of pediatric imaging.