Publication characteristics of family practice faculty nominated for academic promotion.

A survey of family practice department chairmen identified 74 faculty who were nominated for promotion during the 1980-81 academic year; 72 percent had medical degrees, 18 percent had academic doctorates, and 11 percent held other degrees. In each professorial rank those promoted had twice as many publications as those not promoted. Successful and unsuccessful candidates also differed noticeably in the median number of journal publications per year spent on the tenure track. These norms are descriptive, not prescriptive. As the discipline develops academically, promotion characteristics are likely to change.