U.S. publication trends in social and administrative pharmacy: Implications for promotion and tenure

BackgroundThere is no consensus on the preferred approach to assess journal quality. Procedures previously used include journal acceptance or rejection policies, impact factors, number of subscribers, citation counts, whether the articles were refereed or not, and journals cited in books within the discipline. This study built on the work of previous authors by using a novel approach to assess journal quality in social and administrative pharmacy (SAdP).ObjectivesTo determine U.S. SAdP faculty perceptions of prestigious journals for their research, SAdP faculty perceptions of prestigious journals by their promotion and tenure (P&T) committees, and current research trends in SAdP.MethodsA census of U.S. colleges and schools of pharmacy was conducted using an e-mailed survey and an open-ended approach requiring respondents to list their preferred journals.ResultsSeventy-nine SAdP faculty reported that the 5 most prestigious journals were JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, Health Services Research, and Medical Care. These journals were selected because respondents wished to seek broad readership.ConclusionsResults of this study can be used as a guide by U.S. SAdP faculty and P&T committees to assess the quality of publications by pharmacy administration faculty with the caveat being that pharmacy versus nonpharmacy journals will be chosen based on the fit of the article with the audience.