Publishing and Promotion

John H. Krystal, M.D.

I have my ACNP Travel Award, but will I get tenure?

J. Krystal 12/08

The two central questions the Dean asks promotion committees about you

• How successful were you?

• How successful will you be?

Traditional markers of past and future success

• Establish a laboratory/research program • Obtain research funding • Teach and mentor trainees • Present research findings • Publish research findings

Significance of your publications for Promotions Committees

• • • • •

Productivity : Scientific independence:

Your work?

Stature: Impact:

High impact journals?

Highly cited?

Trajectory:

Enough publications?

Pattern of productivity

Enough Publications?

• Example: Criteria for promotion to Professor of Psychiatry (Track V) from a University noted for its basketball prowess:

Usually a minimum of 40 peer-reviewed publications will be necessary to be considered for this rank…

J. Krystal 12/08

How can you insure that you have enough publications?

• Diversify your portfolio of research activities and peer-reviewed publications: – Short-term and long-term studies – Collaborations – Reviews and original research • Limit distractions, i.e., book chapters

Scientific Independence

• You must develop a body of research that is identified as

your

research independent of your mentors and colleagues • Reflected in publications: – First authored papers without your mentor – Last authored publications with your trainees as first author J. Krystal 12/08

Your 10 best papers define your career

• Most institutions value high impact publications far more than # of papers (above a minimum threshold) • • Most institutions ask you to identify your single most important “contribution” and the top 5-10 papers that define that contribution

Most of your papers will have relatively little impact on your promotion

High impact journals?

• • •

First tier (broad):

Science, Nature (the group),

Neuron, PNAS,

NEJM, JAMA, Lancet

Second tier journals): (competitive specialty

Archives of General Psychiatry , Molecular Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Journal of Neuroscience, Neuropsychopharmacology

Third tier (best subspecialty journals)

Competing views of journal impact reduces importance of citation impact within tier Impact Factor Rank

Archives of Gen Psych Mol Psychiatry Am J Psychiatry Biol Psychiatry

citations/paper Eigenvalue Rank

Am J Psychiatry Biol Psychiatry Archives of GP Mol Psychiatry

Also considers total citations (# papers)

Bergstrom CT J Neurosci 2008

When are within tier impact differences important?

• Some institutions link promotions and incentives quantitatively to impact factor scores of your papers or journals in evaluate the success of a journal which they appear – Journal impact factor is subject to manipulation, • In some countries institutional support citation impact of the publications of nonetheless (like US News and World report their investigators (UK)

Why does the prestige of a journal make a difference for you?

• No longer determines access (pubmed) • Signals your ability to compete at the highest levels • Signals quality to the field (increases citations) • Balance risk of rejection with probability of increased visibility

What other journal considerations make a difference?

• Rapidity of review –

Biological Psychiatry (10%-15% accept rate overall)

•

~50% of papers rejected within 5 days of submission

•

Average about 16 days to first decision (30% accept rate)

• Rapidity of epublication and hard copy publication –

Biological Psychiatry

•

About 40 days to epub after final acceptance

•

Hard copy publication within 6 months

• “Marketing” of your paper –

Biological Psychiatry

• • • •

Thematic clustering of publications in issues Press releases Podcasts E notifications (tables of contents, ITI’s)

Increase the chances of publishing in better journals

• Definitive rigorous studies of important questions, i.e., fewer better papers • Collaborate with someone who publishes in top journals • Do not be unrealistic in “aiming high” the same reviewers see your paper from journal to journal

Highly cited papers:

If a paper is published but no one reads it, does it really “exist.”

• • Attractive objective criteria: downloads, citations (SCI) • Problems: – Rate of citation depends on the citation pattern of the field, i.e., large fields (depression, schizophrenia) cite more than small fields (alcoholism). – Does it make a difference whether low or high impact papers cite your publication? (Google Index, J Neurosci 2008)

Balance quantitative assessments of impact by qualitative impressions of impact by outside promotion reviewers (“experts”)

Trajectory of productivity

• “One hit wonders” or people with declining productivity are a problem - universities count on continued productivity (grants) to offset their investment in faculty • Rise in rate and impact of productivity is valued • Trajectory is only moderately predicted by: – Total number of papers – Total number of citations – Average citation/paper

H index

• The highest number of papers that have that same number of citations (i.e., 10 papers with 10 citations) • Avoids overvaluation of a few highly cited papers • Combines rate and impact of productivity • Roughly related to career stage (Yale casual sample) – Assistant Professor – Associate Professor – Early Professor H index ~10-15 ~20-25 ~30+ Hirsch JE PNAS 2007

The moral of my story

PUBLISHING DROVE ME

• It is worth considering what you are trying to accomplish when pursuing a program of research • If you pick an important question, pursue it rigorously, and garner resources to support your research, you should generate a sufficient number of high impact publications to get promoted

Good

Luck!

What is the point?

What your Chair is thinking

• Have fun •

Seems like a nice person to have around

• Establish your career •

Getting grants… the Dean will like this

• Have an

impact

•

High visibility…I wonder if this will attract donors?

Outline

• Having an impact and getting promoted • How does publishing fit in?

Outline

• Having an impact and getting promoted • How does publishing fit in?

What do we mean by impact?

• Promotion to associate professor: when people think of you, they remember a published finding • Promotion to professor: when people think of an area of research, they think of you