Abstract
IntroductionAs scholarship moves into the digital sphere, applicant and promotion and tenure (P&T) committee members lack formal guidance on evaluating the impact of digital scholarly work. The P&T process requires the appraisal of individual scholarly impact in comparison to scholars across institutions and disciplines. As dissemination methods evolve in the digital era, we must adapt traditional P&T processes to include emerging forms of digital scholarship.MethodsWe conducted a blended, expert consensus procedure using a nominal group process to create a consensus document at the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors Academic Assembly on April 1, 2019.ResultsWe discussed consensus guidelines for evaluation and promotion of digital scholarship with the intent to develop specific, evidence-supported recommendations to P&T committees and applicants. These recommendations included the following: demonstrate scholarship criteria; provide external evidence of impact; and include digital peer-review roles. As traditional scholarship continues to evolve within the digital realm, academic medicine should adapt how that scholarship is evaluated. P&T committees in academic medicine are at the epicenter for supporting this changing paradigm in scholarship.ConclusionP&T committees can critically appraise the quality and impact of digital scholarship using specific, validated tools. Applicants for appointment and promotion should highlight and prepare their digital scholarship to specifically address quality, impact, breadth, and relevance. It is our goal to provide specific, timely guidance for both stakeholders to recognize the value of digital scholarship in advancing our field.
Highlights
As scholarship moves into the digital sphere, applicant and promotion and tenure (P&T) committee members lack formal guidance on evaluating the impact of digital scholarly work
P&T committees in academic medicine are at the epicenter for supporting this changing paradigm in scholarship
We provide a guiding framework for the presentation and evaluation of digital scholarship for the applicant for promotion, referees for the candidate, and members of P&T committees
Summary
As scholarship moves into the digital sphere, applicant and promotion and tenure (P&T) committee members lack formal guidance on evaluating the impact of digital scholarly work. The promotion and tenure (P&T) process requires the appraisal of individual scholarly impact in comparison to scholars across institutions and disciplines. Comparative metrics such as the journal impact factor and the h-index are used to quantify and compare the quality of an individual’s scholarship and, his or her academic merit.[1] As knowledge dissemination methods evolve in the digital era, we must adapt traditional P&T processes to include emerging forms of digital scholarship.[2] In this paper, we aim to first situate our readers within the literature on the topic of academic scholarship, after which we will describe the process by which we derived and refined our consensus guideline.
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