Most radiology departments have had comprehensive quality assurance programmes up and running for many years. There are several tangible measures of the output of a radiological department in the form of workload, staffing, film quality, film retrieval, accuracy of reports, availability of reports, etc. There are also many less tangible aspects. In this paper, which attempts to cover most of the practical aspects of quality assurance in radiology, the programme is followed through from the initiation of the request for a radiological investigation right up to its possible influence on the outcome of the patient. The educational aspects are also addressed in this rapidly evolving field.

In this paper we deal with those methods which are used, or which may be used, to ensure that research in the biomedical and health services field is of a satisfactory standard. We discuss not only what is undertaken to ensure that the quality of the applications which are funded is of the best, but also those activities which may be pursued in an endeavour to stimulate a healthy quantity of high-quality applications for research. This latter point is an issue relating primarily to health services research. We cover the topic of quality assurance of biomedical and health services research from an experience which is derived mainly, but not solely, from involvement with Scottish funding agencies. Consideration is given to the allocation of budgets for research in medicine and the impact that this has on the quality of biomedical and health services research.

‘The object of science is publication’. Thus John Ziman (1968), a distinguished commentator on the history of science, echoing Michael Faraday's equally terse ‘Work, finish, publish’ over a century earlier. Few will disagree: research findings are incomplete until they have been disseminated widely and discussed by peers – to be rejected, modified, or accepted as a contribution to the particular discipline. Publication was one of the major considerations that in 1665 led two important scientific societies – the Academie Francaise and the Royal Society to create the first true scientific journals: the Journal de Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Zuckerman & Merton 1971). Nevertheless, right from the outset, neither journal was based on publishing everything that was submitted: instead, both relied on assessment of the articles by experts on the subject, chosen initially by the editor from within the council of the society and later from among scientists outside it.