Scholarly Productivity and Rank in Academic Hospital Medicine

Abstract

Despite the rapid growth of academic hospital medicine, scholarly productivity remains poorly characterized. In this cross-sectional study, distribution of academic rank and scholarly output of academic hospital medicine faculty are described. We extracted data for 1,554 hospitalists on faculty at the top 25 internal medicine residency programs. Only 11.7% of faculty had reached associate (9.0%) or full professor (2.7%). The median number of publications was 0.0 (interquartile range [IQR], 0.0-4.0), with 51.4% without a single publication. Faculty 6 to 10 years post residency had a median of 1.0 (IQR, 0.0-4.0) publication, with 46.8% of these faculty without a publication. Among men, 54.3% had published at least one manuscript, compared to 42.7% of women (P < .0001). Predictors of promotion included H-index, number of years post residency graduation, completion of chief residency, and graduation from a top 25 medical school. Promotion remains uncommon in academic hospital medicine, which may be partially due to low rates of scholarly productivity.

Scholarly productivity and growth of academic hospital medicine full professors

“…For academic HM programs intending to increase scholarship, our analysis suggests that recruiting faculty with fellowship training, additional degrees, and/or graduation from top 25 residency programs correlates with increased productivity, with graduation from a top 25 residency program being most predictive. These findings correspond to our prior work, which found that completion of chief residency and graduation from a top 25 medical school was associated with higher academic rank 23 …”

“…These findings correspond to our prior work, which found that completion of chief residency and graduation from a top 25 medical school was associated with higher academic rank. 23 This study has several limitations. The authors abstracted data from websites, which may not have been updated in a timely fashion.…”

“…Advancement of academic rank in HM remains challenging. A recent study found that 90% of academic HM faculty in the top 25 medical schools were instructors or assistant professors, while only 2.7% were FPs 23 . This has not substantially changed since a 2012 study of HM faculty, in which 84% were instructors or assistant professors 5 .…”

“…A recent study found that 90% of academic HM faculty in the top 25 medical schools were instructors or assistant professors, while only 2.7% were FPs. 23 This has not substantially changed since a 2012 study of HM faculty, in which 84% were instructors or assistant professors. 5 Comparatively, 28.2% of faculty in cardiology and 30% in allergy are FPs, a prevalence that is ten-fold greater than that in HM.…”

Utilization of a National Writing Challenge to Promote Scholarly Work: A Pilot Study

“…With peer-reviewed publications often serving as a measure of academic success, ensuring faculty are publishing is key to individual development, academic promotion, and advancement of the field. A recent study highlighted that the median number of publications for academic hospitalists was zero for the hospitalist faculty at the instructor and assistant professor levels [6]. Another study highlighted that academic promotion of successfully promoted hospitalists depended (in part) on traditional academic domains, including publications [7].…”