Conclusion: Special issue on genetic and alcohol use disorder research with diverse racial/ethnic groups: Key findings and potential next steps.

<bold>Background and Objectives: </bold>This special issue brings together papers focusing on a wide range of topics relevant to the research and understanding of the role of race/ethnicity and genetic variation for the susceptibility of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD).<bold>Methods: </bold>The key findings from the issue's 10 articles are reviewed and organized here around three topics: I: addictive behaviors and potential environmental influences; II: a focus on four racial/ethnic groups; and III: special methodologies.<bold>Results: </bold>Several potential next steps in improving effective research strategies are highlighted: (1) implementing best practices for outreach and community engagement may reduce reluctance to participate; (2) recruiting adequately sized and racially/ethnically diverse samples will require new collaborations with investigators who successfully work in diverse communities; (3) identifying and assessing environmental influences that are both unique to, and common among, racial/ethnic groups may inform preventions for AUD; (4) use of standardized measures will facilitate the generation of larger samples and meta-analysis of research findings; and (5) use of better analytic approaches and experimental methods will improve replication in gene finding research and help advance new areas of research.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Genetic research of AUD in diverse racial/ethnic populations is advancing. The articles in this issue examined the general theme of including diverse population groups in genetic studies and offered potential strategies for addressing some common problems.<bold>Scientific Significance: </bold>Greater inclusion of diverse racial/ethnic populations in this research is important to ensure that the benefits of new knowledge and technology are equally shared. (Am J Addict 2017;26:532-537). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]