Money Talks: The Shifting Effect of Limiting Monetary Incentives for Urology Resident Research

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess incentive changes on resident publication behavior. In 2020, we demonstrated the positive effect of an unlimited $1,000 publishing incentive for Urology residents. Following this publication, institutional changes led to a limit of a single $1,000 publishing incentive per resident per year. MethodsThe PubMed database was assessed to quantify average resident primary authorship and average overall publications. Average primary authorships and total PubMed listings were then compared by year before any incentive (June 2008 – June 2016), during unlimited incentive (July 2016 – October 2020), and after the limited financial incentive (November 2020 – June 2023). ResultsScholarly activity from thirty out of thirty possible residents was evaluated. The average PubMed research participation for the program per year increased significantly from 2.44 pre-incentive to 8.0 when the incentive was unlimited but decreased to 4.0 when the incentive was limited (p=0.026). Similarly, the average PubMed primary resident authorships per year increased from 1.0 pre-incentive to 6.25 during the unlimited incentive period but decreased to 2.0 when the incentive was limited (p<0.001). ConclusionsOur data showed an unlimited monetary incentive resulted in a significant increase in average primary resident authorship and average resident participation for publications to PubMed. The limited monetary incentive model resulted in a significant decrease on resident publication and participation in research compared to unlimited incentives. However, limited monetary incentives have a positive, though restricted, effect on Urology resident publication and participation in research compared to no incentive.