Mapping Researcher Identity in Culturally Diverse Teams Investigating Health Inequalities in High-Income Countries: A Scoping Review Protocol

Background Researcher identity and positionality shape how studies of health inequalities are conceptualised, conducted, and interpreted, particularly within culturally diverse teams. Yet there is no consolidated map of how team-level identities influence research processes and outputs in High-Income Countries (HIC) settings. The purpose of this scoping review is to map out key definitions, theories, and methods used to examine team-level researcher identity/positionality in HIC health inequalities research, and to synthesise reported impacts on research processes, collaboration, and outputs. Methods This scoping review will be conducted following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, with refinements by Levac and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). It will be reported in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The databases to be searched are MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, and Scopus, using a JBI three-step strategy, supplemented by hand searching and citation tracking. Eligibility criteria are structured using the Participant Concept Context (PCC) framework. These will include studies involving culturally or demographically diverse research teams that explicitly address the researcher’s identity/positionality/reflexivity at the team level, as well as how these dynamics shape research processes and relationships between researchers and communities conducting health inequalities research in HIC. English-language, peer-reviewed empirical and conceptual/theoretical papers published from 2010 onwards will be included; grey literature and non-health contexts will be excluded. Two reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts and full texts in Covidence, resolving disagreements through consensus procedures. Results will be presented in a PRISMA-ScR flow diagram and synthesised narratively, supported by tabulated summaries. Discussion This review will synthesise and provide important insights into how team-level researcher identity and positionality are defined and enacted within HIC health inequalities research, and where across the research cycle, these dynamics most influence study decisions, collaboration, and outputs. Review Registration Open Science Framework (OSF) ( https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/29KPT ).