Scholarly Productivity: A Regional Study of Physical Therapy Faculty in Schools of Allied Health

Abstract

A study of the scholarly activities of physical therapy faculty members in selected schools of allied health was conducted through a mailed questionnaire survey. The analysis of the data provided by the respondents (N = 127; 97.6%) revealed the following: 1) the respondents' primary scholarly activity was authorship of referred journal articles; 2) a majority of the respondents presented a paper at a professional meeting during the past three years; 3) only a small percentage of the respondents had directed extramurally funded projects; 4) the majority of the respondents indicated that their own academic preparation was the primary factor that encouraged their scholarly pursuits and that heavy teaching and administrative responsibilities were the primary discouraging factors; and 5) the respondents indicated that faculty scholarly activities are, and will continue to be, important considerations in academic promotion decisions. Comparison of the data provided by these respondents with data from the 1983 American Physical Therapy Association physical therapy faculty survey suggests modest gains in scholarly productivity. The implications of these findings are that faculty development programs are warranted and physical therapy administrators and faculty should join forces in finding more effective ways to involve faculty in research activities.