5. Global Experts-centered Consensus Development; A Series of Methodologies for Extending Harmonization and Global Representativeness in Addiction Science

Despite the great strides in evidence-based addiction science research, there always remain untouched spots where some main questions of the field require a broader vision of experts to be applied upon the situation. This especially occurs when other types of data are scarce, the issues under discussion are complex to address with available information, or there is a need for rapid syntheses of information and intervention formulation. Therefore, different sets of expert-centered methodologies have been experimented in various areas of addiction science and are represented as guiding practices for further studies in the future.

In order to build up efficient infrastructures for expert communications, virtual international collaborative networks play they key roles. Stemming from these networks, experts have come together within different methodological contexts including global surveys, traditional, modified and data-driven Delphi studies leading to methodological checklists and guidelines, consensus statements, decision making algorithms and categorizations.

Growing out of this endeavor, ISAM-GEN, ISAM-NIG, ACRI and INTAM are among the active expertcentered virtual collaborative networks in addiction which have successfully answered to some important unresolved key questions in the fields of substance use epidemiology, addiction cognitive trainings, drug cue reactivity and addiction tES/TMS best practices, respectively.

The fruitful results of the aforementioned collaborative networks have shed a light on harmonizing some key cutting-edge points of the field by providing consensus-derived roadmaps and guidelines. Building on this, future rigorous expert-centered studies can be conducted within these networks to tackle issues requiring the added value of expert visions.