Ranking the dermatology programs based on measurements of academic achievement

Abstract

The only dermatology rankings in the past were based on National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and journal citations. To determine the highest ranking academic dermatology programs based on 5 outcome measures and on an overall ranking scale. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to rank the dermatology programs on 4 of the following outcome measures of academic achievement and with an overall ranking. We collected extensive 2001 to 2004 data ranging from total publications to grant funding on 107 U.S. dermatology programs and their full-time faculty. Data from part-time and volunteer faculty were not used. Publications in 2001 to 2004; NIH funding in 2004; Dermatology Foundation grants in 2001 to 2004; faculty lectures in 2004 delivered at national conferences; number of full-time faculty members who were on the editorial boards of the top 3 U.S. dermatology journals and the top 4 subspecialty journals We used the 5 outcome measures to tabulate the highest ranking programs in each category. Using a weighted ranking system, we also tabulated the overall top 30 dermatology programs based on these 5 outcome measures. We were not able to determine the total amount of NIH funding in dollars of the dermatology divisions. The impact factors of the journal in which these publications appeared was not factored into our calculations. Since faculty members may collaborate on the same publication, some publications may have been double-counted. In descending order, the 5 highest ranked academic programs are the University of Pennsylvania; University of California, San Francisco; Yale-New Haven Medical Center; New York University; and University of Michigan. This ranking system may allow residents and faculty to improve the academic achievements at their respective programs.