Citation:
In advance of the 2019 INSAR Conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, I asked the members of the Autism Research Editorial Board and the Associate Editors to write short (approximately 300 word) mini‐commentaries on what they considered to be the current gaps in research on autism spectrum disorder. The responses and styles were diverse and reflect research gaps ranging from basic biology to treatment trials to services for transition to adulthood. They reflect thoughts from countries around the world. While each of the contributions was done entirely independently, it is interesting how the theme of heterogeneity is found in many of them. There is also increasing concern over the lack of research on socioeconomic and cultural factors related to the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder. We hope that these comments will provide food for thought.
Andrew Whitehouse:
Despite an improvement over the past 5 years, there remains a substantial dearth of rigorous clinical trials of existing and new interventions. The publication of a randomized‐controlled trial of a behavioral or pharmacological intervention that involves preregistration, a large sample size, the necessary treatment concealing, and high‐quality internal validity checks is still a noticeable and infrequent event in the autism research literature. These studies are, of course, highly complex, and require considerable resources and planning to execute successfully. However, these substantial challenges shrink into the background when juxtaposed with the potential benefits. It is now universally acknowledged that ASD is heterogeneous in etiological origin, behavioral presentation, and expression across the life‐course. Without a solid evidence‐base upon which we can provide families with accurate guidance in their intervention decisions, we are flying blind amidst these fluctuating variables. The ethical implications of this are immense, and this needs to be a key driver in our pursuit to make the publication of these studies a more frequent event. There is no doubt that cross‐site (even, cross‐nation) partnerships are critical to this endeavor. It is only through targeted funding schemes, the work of professional societies, and critically, the will of the scientific research diaspora that this gap will start to be filled.