Research productivity of junior academic staff at a tertiary medical college in south west, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

The research productivity of medical faculty has been well studied in developed countries, unlike in the developing countries.

OBJECTIVES

This study proposes to assess the level of research productivity over a 2 year period and identify the challenges to conducting research among junior academic staff of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos.

METHODS

An observational cross-sectional study in which the 120 junior academic staff from both basic sciences and clinical sciences were evaluated between January and September 2005. Data collection was by self-administered questionnaires distributed to the study population.

RESULTS

There were 83 (69.1%) respondents comprising 38 males (45.6%) and 45 females (54.2%). The median age group was 31-40 years. Most respondents (57, 83%) spent less than 10 hours/week on research. On average they had completed 3-4 scholarly articles within the past 2 years. Nineteen (21.7%) of the subjects were considered to have optimal research productivity having completed over 5 scholarly research papers. The lecturers with optimal research productivity were significantly more likely to be male, and spent over 10 hours a week in hospital related clinical and laboratory related activities. (p = 0.02, and p = 0.03). Inadequate funding and laboratory facilities, and poor technological infrastructure were the most common causes of impediments to research reported by 78%, 69% and 55% of the lecturers respectively.

CONCLUSION

Optimal research productivity was seen in about one quarter of the study population and was associated with male gender and prolonged duration of clinical/laboratory activities. Negligible research financing and poor laboratory support were major impediments to research productivity.