Impact of Financial Incentives and Department Size on Scholarly Activity Output

Dominique D. Munroe; Jose Villalon-Gomez; Dean A. Seehusen; Miranda A. Moore

doi:10.1370/afm.240061

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Table 1.

Faculty Scholarly Activity vs Institutional Financial Incentives

	Total (N = 106)		No financial incentive (n = 65)		Financial incentive (n = 41)
Scholarly productivity questions	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
In the 2021-2022 academic year, how many of the following scholarly activities did your clinic-based FM faculty complete:
Poster or oral abstract presentation at an academic conference (local, regional, or national), No.
0	5	4.7	5	7.7	0	0.0
1-5	47	44.3	29	44.6	18	43.9
≥6	53	50.0	30	46.2	23	56.1
Missing	1	0.9	1	1.5	0	0.0
PubMed-indexed peer-review original research article published, No.
0	10	9.4	7	10.8	3	7.3
1 to 5	54	50.9	35	53.8	19	46.3
≥6	42	39.6	23	35.4	19	46.3
Missing	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Editorial or commentary article published, No.
0	27	25.5	20	30.8	7	17.1
1-5	60	56.6	34	52.3	26	63.4
≥6	14	13.2	8	12.3	6	14.6
Missing	5	4.7	3	4.6	2	4.9
Clinical review articles published, No.
0	37	34.9	26	40.0	11	26.8
1-5	44	41.5	25	38.5	19	46.3
≥6	22	20.8	11	16.9	11	26.8
Missing	3	2.8	3	4.6	0	0.0
Other scholarly activity, No.
0	19	17.9	16	24.6	3	7.3
1-5	24	22.6	13	20.0	11	26.8
≥6	43	40.6	23	35.4	20	48.8
Missing	20	18.9	13	20.0	7	17.1
Did you yourself produce a scholarly product in academic year 2021-2022? (Select all that apply)
None	17	16.0	10	15.4	7	17.1
Poster or oral abstract presentation at an academic conference (local, regional, or national)	51	48.1	31	47.7	20	48.8
PubMed-indexed peer-review original research article published	58	54.7	32	49.2	26	63.4
Editorial or commentary article published	34	32.1	20	30.8	14	34.1
Clinical review articles published	16	15.1	5	7.7	11	26.8
Other (please specify)	21	19.8	11	16.9	10	2.4
What is the greatest barrier to your institution offering financial incentive for scholarly activities?
Institutional governance rules directly disallow	…	…	9	13.8	…	…
Institutional budget constraints	…	…	38	58.5	…	…
Department culture or tradition	…	…	11	16.9	…	…
Other	…	…	5	7.7	…	…
Missing	…	…	2	3.1	…	…
In the 2021-2022 academic year, did your clinic-based FM faculty receive a cash-based incentive for engaging in scholarly activities (excluding professional meeting attendance expenses)?
No	…	…	…	…	22	53.7
Yes, a salary bonus, a set amount if any activity	…	…	…	…	1	2.4
Yes, a salary bonus, a variable amount based on activity	…	…	…	…	18	43.9
Missing	…	…	…	…	0	0.0
In the 2021-2022 academic year, did your clinic-based FM faculty receive nonfinancial incentives for engaging in scholarly activities?
No	70	66.0	47	72.3	23	56.1
Yes	34	32.1	17	26.2	17	41.5
Missing	2	1.9	1	1.5	1	2.4
What is the greatest limitation your FM clinical faculty face in engaging in scholarly activities?
None	3	2.8	3	4.6	0	0.0
Research effort support not available	13	12.3	11	16.9	2	4.9
High patient care demands	47	44.3	27	41.5	20	48.8
Lack of resources (research expertise, mentoring, etc)	17	16.0	11	16.9	6	14.6
Lack of interest in scholarship	15	14.2	6	9.2	9	22.0
Other	8	7.5	5	7.7	3	7.3
Missing	3	2.8	2	3.1	1	2.4

FM = family medicine.
Note: Source: Analysis of the Fall 2022 Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance Family Medicine Residency Directors Survey.

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Table 2.

Multivariable Logistic Regression Results

Dependent variable	Fully adjusted OR (95% CI)^{^a}
Clinical review articles, ≥6
Financial incentives	1.084 (0.184-6.379)
Full-time equivalents, <25^{^b}	0.149 (0.018-1.237)
Editorials, ≥6
Financial incentives	0.122 (0.002-6.260)
Full-time equivalents, <25^{^b}	0.0501(0.002-1.605)
Research articles, ≥6
Financial incentives	0.995 (0.253-3.920)
Full-time equivalents, <25^{^b}	0.982 (0.279-3.462)
Poster presentations, ≥6
Financial incentives	1.164 (0.314-4.320)
Full-time equivalents, <25^{^b}	0.199 (0.054-0.739)^{^c}

OR = odds ratio.
Note: Source: Analysis of the Fall 2022 Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance Family Medicine Residency Directors Survey.
↵a Adjusted for type of residency program, program location, community size, department chair current tenure, department chair sex, department chair underrepresented in medicine status, department chair race, and department chair age.
↵b Less than 25 full-time person equivalents in the practice.
↵c Significant at a P value of .05

Additional Files

Tables

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS IN PDF FILE BELOW

Supplemental Table 1. Distribution of Characteristics of Family Medicine Residency Programs Surveyed

Supplemental Table 2. Distribution of Characteristics of Family Medicine Department Chairs Surveyed on Engagement in Scholarly Activity (N = 106)
Supplemental Table 3. Faculty Scholarly Activity Versus FTE Size
Supplemental Table 4. Faculty Scholarly Activity Versus Department Chair Engagement
Supplemental Table 5. Multivariable Logistic Regression Results

Munroe_Supp_Tables_1-5.pdf -
PDF file
VISUAL ABSTRACT IN PDF FILE BELOW

Munroe_visual_abstract-revised.pdf