Department of Physical Therapy Education Scholarship Statement
DATE ADDED: April 1, 2024 – taken from the SHS MS Team document folder.
ACTION PLAN: Request confirmation from the PT chair including last update information.
Elements of Peer-Reviewed Scholarship Department of Physical Therapy Education Elon University
SCHOLARSHIP
Scholarship is defined broadly as knowledge generated through research and presented in an academic setting. Scholarship in physical therapy includes but is not limited to: scholarship within physical therapy and related fields; interdisciplinary scholarship that includes physical therapy; scholarship of innovation; scholarship of engagement; and scholarship about the pedagogy of physical therapy. All Department of Physical Therapy Education (DPTE) faculty are expected to be consistently involved in creating and/or contributing to a body of knowledge through scholarly activity.
Peer Review
The faculty of the DPTE recognizes “scholarship” as only work that is peer reviewed. Essential elements of peer review are that the work appears in an academic venue and that it is critically evaluated by a colleague or colleagues within the field of physical therapy or a related field.
Academic venues may include peer-reviewed journals, books, professional conferences, electronic journals, as well as pedagogical tools such as CD-ROMs, DVD, and computer software. In each instance, the essence of peer-reviewed scholarship is not so much the medium in which it occurs but the fact that peers have critically evaluated the work. Peer review can be of a formal or an informal nature.
Formal Peer Review
Formal peer review is typically a critical process in which the researcher receives feedback from anonymous referees and makes necessary revisions before the work is accepted and published. Examples of formal peer review include but are not limited to:
- Peer-reviewed journal articles
- Books
- Book chapters
- Presentations accepted for professional conferences, with published abstracts
- Funded Competitive Grant proposals. In some cases unfunded grant proposals submitted to very prestigious grantors (e.g. National Institute of Health (NIH)) can be presented as scholarship with support of the Department Chair of DPTE and the Dean of the School of Health Sciences
- Invited presentations at the state, regional, national, or selection is made by a formalized committee representing a professional made by a formalized committee representing a professional organization
Informal Peer Review
Informal peer review consists of a process through which scholarship is evaluated by referees, editors, conference panel chairs or discussants known to the scholar. Revisions may or may not be involved in the process. Examples include but are not limited to:
- Acceptance of a platform or poster presentation for a conference without a published abstract
- Adoption of pedagogical tools by a larger community of peers
- Feedback from a discussant and/or panel chair at a conference
- Funded non-competitive grant proposals
- Working with an editor on a book chapter, book, or edited volume that does not go through a blind, critical review process by outside referees.
All peer-reviewed work has inherent value. While the DPTE faculty feels that work that has undergone an informal peer review process should be valued, for the purposes of tenure and promotion, the DPTE faculty feels a greater emphasis should be placed on work that has gone through a formal peer review process.
High-Quality Peer Reviewed Scholarship
Scholarship is valued relative to its breadth and duration of impact in the field. The DPTE faculty recognizes that not all academic venues are necessarily equal in terms of scope or impact on the collected knowledge of scholars in physical therapy and related fields. Consequently, special attention should be given to work that is published in a major journal or academic press. Level of quality of scholarship can also be evaluated using a variety of measures including:
Reach: Size and scope of the audience
Selectivity: Stringency of the review process as determined by acceptance rates, qualifications of reviewers, and/or impact of publication venue
Significance: Importance of the work as determined by the use of work by others through citation or adoption
Permanence: Durability of the work. For example; publications are more permanent than presentations
Professional Activity that is not Scholarship
Other forms of professional activity that do not meet the scholarship criteria include but are not limited to: leadership roles in academic and professional organizations, professional internships, consulting or pro bono work, academic or professional judging, leadership or participation in workshops or seminars intended to improve command of the field, and professional involvement within the community.
Faculty members are responsible for making an evidence-based case for the quality of their academic, creative, and professional works and explaining their roles in multiple- author works.
Approved December 2014