Table 3 Strengths and limitations of the roadmap

The roadmap:

 - In three distinct phases, allows for a systematic evaluation of sex and gender differences in health and disease;

 - Provides practical guidance for researchers, policy makers, clinicians, and educators on how to explore and explain sex and gender differences in health and how to translate such findings to policy and practice;

 - Is generic and can be applied to a broad range health research areas;

 - Can be adopted to assess other aspects of intersectionality and gender identities

The roadmap:

 - Underscores that sex and gender exist along a continuum and are often intertwined, yet presents sex and gender as binary variables, to enhance coherence and accessibility;

 - Does not address the issue of how research into sex might differ from research into gender, or how the two might be researched together;

 - Has a quantitative focus without discussing the complex cultural and psychosocial concepts underpinning sex and gender;

 - Is a guiding document, which needs to be adapted to the research question and setting, or translational aim, at hand