Consensus Guidelines for Digital Scholarship in Academic Promotion

Abstract

Introduction: 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 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. Methods: We 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. Results: We 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 peerreview 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. Conclusion: P&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. [

Documenting Social Media Engagement as Scholarship: A New Model for Assessing Academic Accomplishment for the Health Professions

“…Some institutions such as the Mayo Clinic in the United States have led the effort to recognize the scholarly impact of social media engagement and are already considering these contributions in the promotion and tenure process [13]. Similarly, the US Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors proposed a formal set of guidelines for including digital scholarship in this process [14]. O'Glasser et al [15] called for the recognition of social media engagement earlier in health professional careers, and provided guidance for scholars-in-training on how best to include creative and social media work in standardized applications such as the Electronic Residency Application Service for medical residencies and fellowships.…”

Planning Engaging, Remote, Synchronous Didactics in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era

“…The Kern 6-step curriculum model for planning traditional didactics remains applicable, but it has been successfully updated to meet the needs of remote learning [ 25 , 26 ]. The Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors Academic Assembly has already released guidelines for implementing and evaluating digital scholarship that may be used to plan ahead for these changes [ 27 ]. We recommend starting with the conversion of required didactics by using simple strategies like group lectures and audience participation.…”

Research Techniques Made Simple: Scientific Communication using Twitter

“…Scientists use Twitter to disseminate their work to multiple different audiences, including specialized scientific communities, journalists, policymakers, and the lay public. Studies suggest that sharing research through social media can increase both Altmetrics and citations (Eysenbach, 2011;Husain et al, 2020;Luc et al, 2021). A randomized controlled trial through The Thoracic Surgery Social Media Network (TSSMN), a collaborative effort among cardiothoracic surgery journals, randomized journal articles being tweeted by TSSMN versus those not being tweeted by TSSMN and followed outcomes over a year.…”

“…In addition, consensus guidelines are being developed for the impact of digital scholarship with respect to promotion and tenure (Husain et al, 2020). Recommendations for including Twitter contributions in promotion and tenure packets include creating a digital scholarship statement that outlines the work and providing metrics around measurable reach and impact (Husain et al, 2020).…”