Innovation Reports: Successes and Limitations for Promoting Innovation in Medical Education

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Scholarly Publishing
• Innovation Dissemination

Background:

• Academic Medicine established "Innovation Reports" in 2013 to foster early-stage innovation.
• This article type aimed to provide a platform for novel ideas in medical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact and effectiveness of "Innovation Reports" in promoting innovation.
• To analyze submission data, citation rates, and author perceptions of this article type.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of submission and publication data from October 2013 to May 2018.
• Examination of citation counts and Altmetric Attention Scores for published reports.
• Web-based survey of corresponding authors regarding their experiences and perceived impact.

Main Results:

• 151 "Innovation Reports" were published with a 16% acceptance rate from 920 submissions.
• Published reports achieved a mean citation rate of 4.3 and a mean Altmetric score of 14.3 (top 20%).
• 96% of surveyed authors felt publishing an "Innovation Report" advanced their careers, but only 16% published subsequent related work.

Conclusions:

• "Innovation Reports" successfully promote early-stage ideas and author careers.
• The article type may function as a publication endpoint rather than a catalyst for sustained innovation.
• Future evolution should involve stakeholder input and clearer goal definition to better foster innovation.