Pathways into academia - A scoping review with implications for the health professions

Health professions are experiencing a shortage of faculty, especially faculty from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. While research on recruitment and retention is well established, there is a gap in the evidence on the factors that influence the decision to pursue an academic career. This scoping review aimed to identify facilitators and barriers to choosing an academic career, identify findings specific to underrepresented minority (URM) populations, and identify theories and models used in this research. Following Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review framework, we searched four databases for articles (Arksey & O'Malley, 2005). We included empirical studies within higher education settings in English since 2000. We reviewed 119 publications, primarily from North America and Europe, spanning medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, engineering, and general PhD preparation. Examining facilitators and barriers, we identified the overarching concept of ecosystem with three themes: (1) opportunity, (2) value, and (3) productivity. Facilitators included organizational and interpersonal support, research and teaching opportunities, mentorship, and academic productivity. Barriers involved a lack of career pathway and insufficient support. Fluidity within the ecosystem across areas of opportunity, value, and productivity influenced learners' career decisions. Few articles focused on learners from underrepresented populations, although many noted this gap and identified it as an opportunity for future research. Most articles did not specify or utilize a theory or model. The model proposed can enable researchers to conduct research, especially to encourage underrepresented learners to consider academic careers and to build theory in this area.