Where are articles by candidates for academic promotion published?

Publication is an important factor in academic promotion. The purpose of this study was to describe the journals in which articles by a sample of tenure-track family practice faculty members in university-based programs were published.

Publication information about family practice candidates for academic promotion during the 1988-89 academic year was solicited from program chairmen; an 80% response rate was achieved.

The candidates for faculty promotion had 393 articles published in 131 journals. The Journal of Family Practice published 93 articles, 24% of the total; nearly half of all the candidates had articles published in this journal. Five family practice journals published 35% of the articles. The 36 physician faculty members had 274 articles published in 77 journals. Five major family practice journals accounted for 46% of these articles. The Journal of Family Practice published the greatest number of the articles (32%). The eight nominees with PhD or EdD degrees had 104 articles published in 58 journals. Academic Medicine published the greatest number of these articles (12%). Only 8% of the articles were published in the five major family practice journals. Although PhD and EdD faculty had more articles published, more of the journals were nonrefereed and nonmedical journals; very few were family practice journals.

Overall, the works of family practice faculty are published in a wide range of journals. With an increasing number of journals, the decision of where to submit manuscripts will become even more complex. Furthermore, the greater the number of journals, the greater the need for family practice faculty to produce quality research.