Faculty Promotion and Attrition: The Importance of Coauthor Network Reach at an Academic Medical Center

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Business literature has demonstrated the importance of networking and connections in career advancement. This is a little-studied area in academic medicine. OBJECTIVE: To examine predictors of intra-organizational connections, as measured by network reach (the number of first-and second-degree coauthors), and their association with probability of promotion and attrition. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study between 2008 and 2012. SETTING: Academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 5787 Harvard Medical School (HMS) faculty with a rank of assistant professor or fulltime instructor as of January 1, 2008. MAIN MEASURES: Using negative binomial models, multivariable-adjusted predictors of continuous network reach were assessed according to rank. Poisson regression was used to compute relative risk (RR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for the association between network reach (in four categories) and two outcomes: promotion or attrition. Models were adjusted for demographic, professional and productivity metrics. KEY RESULTS: Network reach was positively associated with number of first-, last-and middle-author publications and h-index. Among assistant professors, men and whites had greater network reach than women and underrepresented minorities (p<0.001). Compared to those in the lowest category of network reach in 2008, instructors in the highest category were three times as likely to have been promoted to assistant professor by 2012 (RR: 3.16, 95 % CI: 2.60, 3.86; p-trend <0.001) after adjustment for covariates. Network reach was positively associated with promotion from assistant to associate professor (RR: 1.82, 95 % CI: 1.32, 2.50; p-trend <0.001). Those in the highest category of network reach in 2008 were 17 % less likely to have left HMS by 2012 (RR: 0.83, 95 % CI 0.70, 0.98) compared to those in the lowest category.CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that coauthor network metrics can provide useful information for understanding faculty advancement and retention in academic medicine. They can and should be investigated at other institutions.

A Bibliometric Study of Authorship and Collaboration Trends Over the Past 30 Years in Four Major Musculoskeletal Science Journals

“…This can be interpreted different ways. It may represent increased collaboration [30][31][32] and advancements in technology [21]. However, it may also represent an inflationary process with other explanations such as honorary authorship or studies from large teams where many team members are given authorship even though there was little or no contribution to the study [33].…”

Women's Careers in Biomedical Sciences: Implications for the Economy, Scientific Discovery, and Women's Health

“…36,37 Finally, a greater network reach, or a larger collaborative network, is positively correlated with the number of publications and h-index. 38 Together, the findings highlighted here suggest that increasing gender diversity and collaborative efforts in academic medicine and biomedical research should enhance scientific discovery and contribute to better health.…”

Capsule Commentary on Warner et al., Faculty Promotion and Attrition: the Importance of Coauthor Network Reach at an Academic Medical Center

“…1 While the cause of this is multifactorial, Dr. Warner and colleagues examine one aspect of faculty promotion and attrition at Harvard Medical School, coauthor network reach. 2 For 4 years they studied coauthor network reach and then compared URMM faculty to White faculty to determine differences. Men and Whites were found to have significantly larger coauthor networks when compared to women and URMM faculty members.…”