Research at Colleges and Universities

In the November 2022 issue of the American peer-reviewed journal “Optometry and Vision Science (OVS)”, former editor Michael Twa discussed the importance of research at university schools and colleges of optometry in the US.¹ These degree programs must be accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE), which reviews the existing accreditation standards every five years. This includes contributions from practitioners, professional associations, the public, educaters and students from schools and colleges of optometry.¹ The areas reviewed also include the complex of “research and scientific activity.” The relevant education program must therefore include the following:¹

• support, promote, and maintain research and scientific activities
• offer students the opportunity to participate in research and other scientific activities under the guidance of educators

In Germany, due to the equivalence of bachelor's and master's degrees from universities of applied sciences with those from traditional universities, graduates of these universities are also eligible for scientific doctoral studies.

Scientific and clinical research has always been part of optometry and can be found in relevant national and international journals. David Elliott, former editor of the renowned UK journal “Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics (OPO)”, published an interesting editorial in 2015 together with Neil Handle from the British Optical Association Museum on the history and significance of research in optometry journals.² Nathan Efron, a former recipient of the “Peter Abel Award” from the Association of German Contact Lens Specialists, also reported in 2023 on the importance of optometry journals.³ Both publications demonstrate  the high relevance of research done at universities and scientific institutions for the field of "optometry and vision science." The development of its own theory was and is of great importance for the professionalization of optometry internationally, but especially for German optometry. This is also the goal of Optometry & Contact Lenses (OCL).

For this reason, I am delighted to present three interesting research papers that were written at German universities of applied sciences with optometry degree programs in the current issue of OCL.