A Guide to the Scientific Career. Группа авторов
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within a professional or academic community, nationally and internationally, for a physician is often defined by his or her publication record. Publishing quality articles in scientific journals most often requires sound methodology (academic or clinical) coupled with excellent writing skills. These two commonly underrated factors will allow the physician‐author to stand out amongst his or her peers. Consistently well‐written, well‐constructed content will garner the author respect at the local, national, and international level. Much comes with that, including professional advancement and recognition − being deemed an expert within the greater medical or research community.
8.6 Personal Satisfaction
There are, of course, some simpler pleasures associated with academic publication. The “byline” phenomenon means something on the local level, a source of pride for the academic department, institution, and so on. But it also means something closer to home. Speaking from the most personal level, we delight when our children or our friends – on their own – have searched us on Google Scholar or PubMed and shared their admiration of our accomplishments. In a romantic sense, publication is our legacy, both professional and personal.
8.7 Editorial Benefits
Just as lifting weights is a form of training that directly enhances physical athletic performance and reading great novels helps the novelist improve his own works, the act of publishing medical and scientific content allows one to significantly improve their reading and critical thinking skills. As a published author, the practice of being self‐critical when it comes to writing better prepares one to critically assess other scientific literature and to distinguish the “wheat from the chaff.” It also allows one to develop improved editorial skills, for example, as a reviewer or editor for a scientific journal, advising other authors on how to improve their writings. Without a developed critical eye and practiced editorial skills, many great scientific papers of the past might have failed to make the impact necessary to directly improve patient care and our community today. How it is written does matter, and those who write well can help others get there, too.
8.8 Professional Contacts
The publication of an article can often open the door to unexpected opportunities. Another researcher with similar interests contacts the author and collaboration is born. It may also lead to consultant positions in government or industry, or in a company or venture capitalist interest. A well‐written paper can be career‐, even life‐changing for the author as well as the audience. The professional networking potential presented by publication is not uncommon, and the impact of scholarly publication extends far beyond the confines of academics to all facets of society.
8.9 Summary: Does Publishing Scholarly Articles Translate into a Successful Scientific Career?
For many residents, young physicians, surgeons, and scientists, the answer to “why are we doing what we're doing?” as it pertains to publication is simply because it is what we do. It is just part of the game, in a sense. However, when we carefully reflect on the consequences of publication, we realize that it is not a game but rather, it is serious business. First, the author can directly impact patient care far beyond his or her local confines by enhancing the evidence‐base, which serves as a guide for the proper care of patients and development of new technologies. Second, a well written, well‐received paper can blossom from a one‐and‐done project to a flourishing program. Third, publications can serve as a foundation for academic promotion, enhanced professional standing, and personal satisfaction. Fourth, by writing one becomes a better reader and critical thinker. And fifth, important publications can create a network of professional contacts leading the author down new, often unanticipated paths, with unexpected and extra‐academic implications. Therefore, it is without doubt that academic writing and publishing can directly translate into a successful career. Young physicians, surgeons, and scientists wishing to advance in their fields should be advised to ardently hone their writing skills in the greater pursuit of publication. Do it and do it well.
Reference
1 Popper K. Three Worlds–The Tanner Lecture on Human Values, Delivered at The University of Michigan April 7, 1978. Available at: http://tannerlectures.utah.edu.
9 Assessing a Researcher's Scientific Productivity and Scholarly Impact
John Panaretos 1, and Chrisovalantis Malesios 2
1Department of Statistics, Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece
2Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece
9.1 Introduction
Evaluating the scientific performance of researchers has always been a beneficial yet difficult task. Over the last 20 years, a steep increase in the number of scientific journals and publications has necessitated useful metrics to accurately capture the scientific productivity of the researchers. These metrics are used to quantify both the individual levels of research activity as well as the researcher's overall impact on the scientific community. A simple approach to measuring the specific scientific impact is to evaluate the number of articles published by a researcher or an institution and the consequent number of citations. However, these numbers alone fail to capture the manifold aspects of a researcher's scientific record and impact. Unfortunately, because of their simplicity, these unidimensional indices are used constantly (and sometimes misused) by administrators to make critical decisions.
More and more we see attempts to provide rankings of researchers, universities, academic departments and programs, and institutions in general. Policy makers all over the world make frequent references to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (published by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China),1 the THES‐QS World University Rankings (published by the Times Higher Education Supplement and Quacquarelli Symonds),2 the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (produced by the Cybermetrics Lab [CINDOC], a unit of the National Research Council [CSIC]),3 and Professional Ranking of World Universities (established by the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris in 2007),4 among others. Recently, the European Union (EU) established its own rankings of research institutions5 and universities.6 The need to assess research performance and its impact is rapidly expanding. In the United Kingdom, a new initiative was introduced to develop metrics that evaluate the success of research organizations for accountability purposes (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 2014).
Rankings of institutions provide important information for interested students, funding agencies, and even university administrators (e.g. in attracting potential faculty). These rankings, however, have also generated concern. Criticism is mostly due to the lack of a common, universal authority, and a consistent methodology used to establish the rankings (Van Parijs 2009). The static nature of the rankings (because of an institution's relatively steady staffing profile) is also concerning (Panaretos and Malesios 2012). The aforementioned rankings, which are conducted annually and have global reach, are not concentrated solely on the research quality of the institutions. A broad number of indicators not directly associated with the research are additionally considered, including the student/faculty ratio and the percentage of employed graduates.
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