School of Health and Sport Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs, Queensland, 4556, Australia.
BMC Med Educ. 2020 Oct 15;20(1):364. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02298-9.
Benchmarking across and within universities is a common tool to evaluate performance of a program and maintain accreditation requirements. While teaching remains a primary responsibility of many academics, academic research performance is a major contributor towards career advancement and standards in the medical laboratory science profession. While anecdotal evidence suggests academics are active contributors to the evidence base of the profession, there is a high variability in research output in relation to institution and level of appointment. The aim of the study was to benchmark the research track record of Australian medical laboratory science academics and provide insight into how research productivity informs the level of appointment of academics across their career pathway.
A bibliographic analysis of Australian medical laboratory science faculty websites and corresponding Scopus citation database profiles was conducted. A description of current research track record and relationships with holding a doctorate, academic appointment level, research and teaching interests, and institutional characteristics were explored. Quantitative data and frequencies were analysed using IBM SPSS version 26 to benchmark research track records by academic appointment level.
There were 124 academics identified from 13 universities who had a teaching and research position in an undergraduate medical laboratory science program in Australia. Academics at the level of lecturer or higher typically held a doctorate (89%). Holding a doctorate strongly influenced the number of publications. The top 20% of researchers authored around half of the overall publications. The majority of academics did not have alignment of their major research and teaching areas however, alignment had no influence on number of publications. There was, however, an inconsistent relationship between metropolitan or regional university location and the number of publications.
Data from this study provides academics with benchmarks for the research track record required at each level of appointment. When drawing conclusions on academic progression, promotion and tenure through research track record it would be mindful to assess each on a case by case basis. Institution (metropolitan versus regional) and research interest appears to influence publication number, h-index and citation scores.
大学之间和大学内部的基准比较是评估项目绩效和维持认证要求的常用工具。虽然教学仍然是许多学者的主要职责，但学术研究成果是医学实验室科学专业职业发展和标准的主要贡献者。虽然轶事证据表明学者是该专业证据基础的积极贡献者，但机构和任命级别与研究产出的高度变化相关。本研究的目的是基准化澳大利亚医学实验室科学学者的研究记录，并深入了解研究生产力如何告知他们在整个职业生涯中的任命级别。
对澳大利亚医学实验室科学教师网站和相应的 Scopus 引文数据库资料进行文献分析。描述了当前的研究记录以及与博士学位、学术任命级别、研究和教学兴趣以及机构特征的关系。使用 IBM SPSS 版本 26 对研究记录进行了定量数据分析和频率分析，以基准化学术任命级别。
从澳大利亚 13 所大学中确定了 124 名拥有医学实验室科学本科课程教学和研究职位的学者。讲师或更高级别的学者通常拥有博士学位（89%）。拥有博士学位强烈影响出版物的数量。排名前 20%的研究人员撰写了大约一半的总体出版物。大多数学者的主要研究和教学领域并不一致，但一致性对出版物数量没有影响。然而，大都市或地区大学的地理位置与出版物数量之间存在不一致的关系。
本研究的数据为学者提供了在每个任命级别所需的研究记录基准。在通过研究记录来推断学术进步、晋升和终身教职时，应根据具体情况进行评估。机构（大都市与地区）和研究兴趣似乎会影响出版物数量、h 指数和引文分数。
