1. A Metrics-Based Research Salary Award System and Its 9-Year Impact on Publication Productivity
- Author
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Kawan Rakhra, Leonid L. Chepelev, Frank J. Rybicki, Nicola Schieda, and Matthew D. F. McInnes
- Subjects
Faculty, Medical ,Impact factor ,Wilcoxon signed-rank test ,Salaries and Fringe Benefits ,Awards and Prizes ,Efficiency ,030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging ,Test (assessment) ,Benchmarking ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Humans ,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,Salary ,Evaluation period ,Psychology ,Productivity ,Retrospective Studies ,Demography - Abstract
Rationale and Objectives Although metrics-based systems may incentivize academic output, no prior studies have evaluated the impact on publication metrics in academic radiology. This study presents a metrics-based system of awarding research protected time, and retrospectively evaluates its 9-year impact on publication productivity and impact factor. Materials and Methods Based on a metrics-based algorithm to award department funded Research Protected Time (RPT), metrics pre-RPT (2003–2009) and during the RPT period (2010–2018) from an academic radiology department were retrospectively analyzed to test the hypothesis that the RPT program resulted in higher publication productivity and journal impact factor at the departmental level and for faculty members receiving the award. Comparison was made between (1) pre-RPT and RPT periods and (2) during the RPT period, between RPT and non-RPT faculty members, for annual publication productivity normalized to faculty count (Student's t test) and median impact factor (Wilcoxon rank sum test). Results For the evaluation period of 2003–2018, 724 unique publications were identified: 15% (107/724) pre-RPT period and 85% (617/724) RPT period. Normalized annual publication productivity was higher during the RPT period compared to the Pre-RPT period (1.2 vs. 0.3, p = 0.002), and within the RPT period, higher among faculty who received RPT vs. non-RPT faculty (3.5 vs. 0.4, p = 0.002). Median impact factor was higher during the RPT period compared to pre-RPT period (2.843 vs. 2.322, p = 0.044), and within the RPT period, higher in RPT vs. non-RPT faculty (3.016 vs. 2.346, p Conclusion The implementation of a metrics-based system of funded, research protected time, was associated with increased publication productivity and increased impact factor.
- Published
- 2022