Quantifying publication scholarly activity of psychiatry residency training directors

Objective: The authors quantify the number of PubMed-indexed publications by psychiatry program directors during a 5-year observation period. Methods: The authors obtained the names of general adult, child and adolescent, and geriatric psychiatry program directors from the ACGME website and entered them into a PubMed.gov database search. Then, they counted the number of indexed publications from July 2008 to June 2013 and categorized them by academic year. Results: The median number of publications was one for adult psychiatry program directors (n=184), one for child and adolescent directors (n=121), and three for geriatric psychiatry directors (n=58). Conclusions: The number of PubMed-indexed publications for program directors of general adult, child and adolescent, and geriatric psychiatry residencies is relatively low. Further research is needed to identify and examine the challenges facing program directors that may limit their ability to participate in this form of scholarly activity.