Purpose. (1) To summarize the judgments of family medicine department
leaders regarding the elements leading to success in promotion and/or
tenure, and (2) to compare the views of department leaders with those
of family medicine faculty who have been successfully promoted. Method
. Two surveys were conducted. The first was of 296 associate professor
members of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine in November 199
3. The second, conducted in the summer of 1994, was of all 115 U.S. me
mbers of the Association of Departments of Family Medicine; surveys we
re addressed to chairs, directors, or promotion and tenure committee c
hairs. Both survey instruments requested data regarding each responden
t's department, impressions about the promotion and tenure processes a
t the respondent's institution, and general impressions regarding the
characteristics of successful candidates. Comparisons of the responses
to the two questionnaires were made using two-tailed t-tests; respons
es to open-ended questions were analyzed qualitatively by two independ
ent investigators. Results. In all, 75% of the department leaders and
67% of the associate professors returned completed questionnaires. The
two groups had similar views about the importance of certain academic
activities to success at promotion and tenure. The primary difference
between the groups was in their estimates of weekly time available fo
r research and writing activities: the leaders reported that successfu
l candidates spent a mean of 25% of their workweeks on research and wr
iting activities; the associate professors, on the other hand, reporte
d spending a mean of 15% of their workweeks on these activities. The d
epartment leaders described six basic groups of critical success facto
rs. The associate professors emphasized lack of time as a major obstac
le to success. Conclusion. The findings emphasize the critical importa
nce of protected time for scholarly activities (such as research and w
riting) if generalists are to be promoted or tenured.