Scholarly Productivity of Athletic Training Faculty Members

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To compare the scholarly productivity index (SPI) among the levels of academic appointment, degree type, and percentage of academic appointment of athletic training faculty members. DESIGN AND SETTING: We used a 5 x 6 x 4 factorial design for this study. A survey instrument was used to determine the number of publications and the number of years in their current appointment. SUBJECTS: Subjects were faculty members in Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs-accredited athletic training education programs. MEASUREMENTS: The SPI was calculated by dividing the total number of publications (peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed journal articles, peer-reviewed abstracts, books written or edited, book chapters, platform presentations, published book reviews, and external funding) by the number of years in the productivity period. RESULTS: The SPIs were different for the levels of academic rank. Full professors had a higher SPI than all other groups (Tukey honestly significant difference, P </=.05). Associate professors had higher SPIs than instructors or lecturers and clinical specialists, equivalent SPIs to assistant professors, and lower SPIs than full professors. Assistant professors had lower SPIs than full professors but were equivalent to all other groups. There were no differences among the levels of degree type or percentage of academic appointment. CONCLUSIONS: The scholarly productivity of athletic training educators was affected by their academic rank but not by the percentage of time they were assigned to academics or their academic degree type.