TY - JOUR
T1 - Commentary
T2 - Evaluating faculty productivity in research: An interesting approach, but questions remain
AU - Joiner, Keith A.
PY - 2009/11
Y1 - 2009/11
N2 - Academic institutions must have strategies for evaluating research productivity by faculty. Such strategies are useful in guiding resource allocations for the research enterprise, for decisions on faculty promotions, and for broader institutional planning, including program development. Commonly, decisions about research space utilization, and funding to support the space, are considered within the purview of the institutional administration. Peer review, in manuscript and grant submissions and the promotions process, is more commonly used to evaluate the impact of faculty research. The article by Iyengar et al in this issue of Academic Medicine takes an interesting approach to evaluate research productivity of individual faculty by integrating benchmarks for research funding and publication impact. The strategy of using these benchmarks to partition faculty into quadrants to guide faculty development activities is clever and useful. Less clear are the philosophy and long-term utility of the approach. The applicability to the stated goal of promoting multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary translational research is not obvious, nor is it apparent that faculty will continue to view decisions as transparent and fair over the longer term. Nevertheless, the author's article is a welcome contribution at a time when many institutions are struggling with issues of evaluating faculty investigators and allocating resources for research.
AB - Academic institutions must have strategies for evaluating research productivity by faculty. Such strategies are useful in guiding resource allocations for the research enterprise, for decisions on faculty promotions, and for broader institutional planning, including program development. Commonly, decisions about research space utilization, and funding to support the space, are considered within the purview of the institutional administration. Peer review, in manuscript and grant submissions and the promotions process, is more commonly used to evaluate the impact of faculty research. The article by Iyengar et al in this issue of Academic Medicine takes an interesting approach to evaluate research productivity of individual faculty by integrating benchmarks for research funding and publication impact. The strategy of using these benchmarks to partition faculty into quadrants to guide faculty development activities is clever and useful. Less clear are the philosophy and long-term utility of the approach. The applicability to the stated goal of promoting multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary translational research is not obvious, nor is it apparent that faculty will continue to view decisions as transparent and fair over the longer term. Nevertheless, the author's article is a welcome contribution at a time when many institutions are struggling with issues of evaluating faculty investigators and allocating resources for research.
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U2 - 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181bb28a8
DO - 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181bb28a8
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 19858795
AN - SCOPUS:70449379847
SN - 1040-2446
VL - 84
SP - 1482
EP - 1484
JO - Academic Medicine
JF - Academic Medicine
IS - 11
ER -