A silent revolution has been underway in the last decade in the field of Indian Rheumatology. Rheumatologists across the country have started collaborating with each other in a tangible way.

This augurs very well, not only for Indian Rheumatology, but for Medical research in India in general. Every 6th person on this planet lives in the Indian subcontinent. What is usually achieved by many countries joining hands can easily be achieved or even surpassed when a few of our centers come together. Collaboration is not only good news for rare diseases, but even for common illnesses, it provides an opportunity to answer deeper questions in a robust manner.

Collaboration is a simple idea which is very difficult to execute. The hurdles are not limited to just technical and financial issues but cover deeper aspects including psychological and interpersonal barriers that need to be surmounted. One such example is agreeing upon the order of authorship. This can be a divisive factor in any collaboration and it takes a lot of trust to move forward in an amicable and mutually acceptable manner.

Slowly but surely, collaboration in Rheumatology has made significant strides in the last decade. These span special interest groups, formation of registries and many other innovative collaborative efforts. We would possibly stick our necks out to say that we are at the cusp of the Tipping point and can expect an explosion of such research in the next decade.