Publication productivity in academic family medicine departments.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to quantify research publication productivity of family medicine departments in selected family medicine and interdisciplinary journals.

METHODS

A 5-year journal search was conducted to identify original research articles published by family medicine department faculty. Publication productivity of all departments was ranked, and regression analysis was used to identify predictors of publication productivity.

RESULTS

The departments leading in publication productivity published more than 25 articles over the 5-year period. The number of faculty and mean dollar value of family medicine department establishment grants were the strongest predictors of publication productivity. When adjusted for departmental size, some departments were found to have high publication productivity per faculty member, even though total numbers of departmental publications were low in comparison to other departments.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identified one way of comparing departments in terms of publication productivity. Large departments, and those with more developmental grant support, have the highest publication productivity.