Research culture in Australian and New Zealand radiation oncology: Fact or fantasy?

Abstract

Introduction Fostering a research culture is a key goal of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, yet there has never been an organization‐wide enquiry into the extent to which this is being realized. The purpose of this work was to address that deficit for the Radiation Oncology (RO) Faculty to serve as a baseline for future comparison. The hypothesis was that such a culture is closer to fact than fantasy. Methods With College approval, three de‐identified Excel spreadsheets detailing 25 research‐related sub‐categories of the Faculty's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) database were interrogated for the 2019–21 triennium, accepting that research activity in 2020–21 would be COVID‐19 suppressed. The numbers obligated to self‐report CPD were 482, 496 and 511, respectively. Primary endpoints were the percentages of ROs claiming at least one research‐related activity overall, and in each of the sub‐categories individually, by year. Secondary endpoints were the “breadth” (number of sub‐categories claimed/individual) and “depth” (percentages solely claiming in one of four lower‐level sub‐categories), by year. Results ROs claimed in 23/25 sub‐categories. The percentages of ROs claiming at least one research‐related activity were 71%, 44%, and 62% in 2019–21, respectively. The median number of sub‐categories claimed by these ROs was 2 (range 1–10) in each year. The commonest activity was journal article co‐author (25%, 16% and 27%, respectively). For 2019, the most representative year, other common activities were inhouse/local meeting presentation (17%), invited lecture at state level or above (15%), manuscript peer review and research project principal investigator (14% each). The percentages of ROs solely claiming in one lower‐level activity ranged between 4.4% and 5.9% per year. Conclusion A culture of research is arguably more fact than fantasy in ANZ. It is likely that Faculty curriculum requirements, research funding and other promotional initiatives have contributed substantively to this.