TY - JOUR
T1 - Are we spending wisely? Impact of POSNA grants on scholarly productivity and future funding success
AU - Nhan, Derek T.
AU - Schoenecker, Jonathan G.
AU - Larson, A. Noelle
AU - Sponseller, Paul D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Key Words: funding rate, grants, Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, podium presentations, publication rate
Funding Information:
Two general and 2 orthopaedic-specific funding agencies were queried to identify whether recipients of the POS-NA grants received extramural funding. The general agencies were the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools13 (NIH RePORTER), which contains NIH grant information from 1992 to present, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)14 database, which is the analogous national funding source in Canada with grant information from 1999 to present. Only investigators listed on those grants were considered NIH or CIHR award recipients. The 2 extramural orthopaedic-specific funding agencies were the Orthopaedic Research Education Foundation15 (2005 to present) and the Scoliosis Research Society16 (SRS) (1998 to present); their websites were reviewed to determine whether POSNA grantees had obtained these grants. Information on institutionally provided funding could not be obtained. We assessed whether the following factors predicted the receipt of extramural funding: (1) whether the grantee completed the project, and (2) the type of project (clinical or basic science).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Background: The Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) funds grants to improve pediatric musculoskeletal care and maximize new knowledge through publications, presentations, and further funding. We assessed the productivity of POSNA grants by number and rate of grant-specific publications, citations, and extramural funding; determined whether project type or completion status was associated with extramural funding; and compared the success of POSNA-funded versus all other podium presentations by publication rate and POSNA awards. Methods: We reviewed final reports for all 85 POSNA grants from 2003 to 2014. To determine grant productivity, we assessed the publication, presentation, and extramural funding rates, and the percentage of grants that achieved at least 1 scholarly output (publication or presentation). Citation counts were determined within 3 years after publication. Results: Overall, each grant achieved 1.53 publications and 15.4 citations. Thirty-three percent secured extramural funding. However, 25% of grants could not be tracked to a scholarly product. Projects that reached completion and were of the basic science type (compared with clinical) were more likely to receive extramural funding. Compared with all other podiums, a greater proportion of POSNA-funded presentations led to a publication (64% vs. 48%, respectively; P=0.02) and were more likely to receive a POSNA award. Approximately 52% of funded projects were not presented at POSNA meetings. Conclusions: Although most POSNA-funded projects led to scholarly output, 25% of them produced no publications or podium presentations. POSNA-funded projects were more likely to lead to a publication and to have a higher chance of winning a POSNA award compared with all other projects. The POSNA grant process is effective at identifying impactful research, but continued process improvement, such as a prospectively maintained database of grant recipient productivity and improved tracking of grant submission histories, are both in development as the first steps to improve accountability of grant recipients in translating their projects to scholarly products.
AB - Background: The Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) funds grants to improve pediatric musculoskeletal care and maximize new knowledge through publications, presentations, and further funding. We assessed the productivity of POSNA grants by number and rate of grant-specific publications, citations, and extramural funding; determined whether project type or completion status was associated with extramural funding; and compared the success of POSNA-funded versus all other podium presentations by publication rate and POSNA awards. Methods: We reviewed final reports for all 85 POSNA grants from 2003 to 2014. To determine grant productivity, we assessed the publication, presentation, and extramural funding rates, and the percentage of grants that achieved at least 1 scholarly output (publication or presentation). Citation counts were determined within 3 years after publication. Results: Overall, each grant achieved 1.53 publications and 15.4 citations. Thirty-three percent secured extramural funding. However, 25% of grants could not be tracked to a scholarly product. Projects that reached completion and were of the basic science type (compared with clinical) were more likely to receive extramural funding. Compared with all other podiums, a greater proportion of POSNA-funded presentations led to a publication (64% vs. 48%, respectively; P=0.02) and were more likely to receive a POSNA award. Approximately 52% of funded projects were not presented at POSNA meetings. Conclusions: Although most POSNA-funded projects led to scholarly output, 25% of them produced no publications or podium presentations. POSNA-funded projects were more likely to lead to a publication and to have a higher chance of winning a POSNA award compared with all other projects. The POSNA grant process is effective at identifying impactful research, but continued process improvement, such as a prospectively maintained database of grant recipient productivity and improved tracking of grant submission histories, are both in development as the first steps to improve accountability of grant recipients in translating their projects to scholarly products.
KW - Funding rate
KW - Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America
KW - grants
KW - podium presentations
KW - publication rate
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054278889&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85054278889&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/BPO.0000000000001261
DO - 10.1097/BPO.0000000000001261
M3 - Article
C2 - 30260922
AN - SCOPUS:85054278889
SN - 0271-6798
VL - 39
SP - e82-e86
JO - Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics
JF - Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics
IS - 1
ER -