Table 1 Key findings from the review

 ● Research capacity strengthening for health in areas of ongoing armed conflict is almost non-existent

 ● Most health research in conflict-affected areas is conducted by non-governmental organisations given that they have access to such areas that academics rarely have

 ● Authorship trends reflect global imbalances in research capacity and attribution, with implications for the type of research produced, priorities it reflects, equity within epistemic communities, and the development of sustainable research capacity in LMICs

 ● Embedding health research capacity across the individual, organisational and institutional levels requires increasing investment and political will nationally and internationally.

 ● Future research on – and indeed interventions aimed at – research capacity strengthening in conflict-affected areas should focus on the impact of: conflict itself, power dynamics within research collaborations (e.g. gender, North-South), technology, and the wider political environment, across all three levels (individual, organisational and institutional).