An Institutional Postdoctoral Research Training Program: Increasing Productivity of Postdoctoral Trainees.

Objective: Postdoctoral training is a critical stage of career development, and there has been a national effort to increase the consistency and quality of postdoctoral experiences. However, much of the effort has gone towards improving the process of training with less effort focusing on the content of what should be achieved during postdoctoral training, primarily because of a lack of empirical evidence in this area. One possible predictor of later scientific productivity is the number of peer-reviewed papers published during postdoctoral training.

An institutional postdoctoral research training program: predictors of publication rate and federal funding success of its graduates.

Objective: The National Institute of Mental Health funds institutional National Research Service Awards (NRSA) to provide postdoctoral research training. While peer-reviewed publications are the most common outcome measure utilized, there has been little discussion of how publications should be counted or what factors impact the long-term publication rates of trainees in these programs.

Methods: The authors reviewed current curricula vitae from 92 graduates of an institutional NRSA and from the faculty mentors of that program to assess publications through 2005.