A Metric‐Based System for Evaluating the Productivity of Preclinical Faculty at an Academic Medical Center in the Era of Clinical and Translational Science

Abstract

Academic medical centers are faced with increasing budgetary constraints due to a flat National Institutes of Health budget, lower reimbursements for clinical services, higher costs of technology including informatics and a changing competitive landscape. As such, institutional stakeholders are increasingly asking whether resources are allocated appropriately and whether there are objective methods for measuring faculty contributions and engagement. The complexities of translational research can be particularly challenging when trying to assess faculty contributions because of team science. For over a decade, we have used an objective scoring system called the Matrix to assess faculty productivity and engagement in four areas: research, education, scholarship, and administration or services. The Matrix was developed to be dynamic, quantitative, and able to insure that a fully engaged educator would have a Matrix score that was comparable to a fully engaged investigator. In this report, we present the Matrix in its current form in order to provide a well-tested objective system of performance evaluation for nonclinical faculty to help academic leaders in decision making.