Scholarship

Definition

Scholarship is a defining feature of academic excellence and is valued in each Area of Distinction. Scholarship has three essential components: advancement of knowledge, dissemination, and impact, defined as follows:

Advancement of Knowledge.  Scholarship advances research, education or practice through discovery, integration, application, or transmission of knowledge. Scholarly activities include, but are not limited to, the discovery of new knowledge through investigation, the integration of knowledge to generate new understanding, the application of knowledge to provide new solutions for individuals or communities, and the development of novel educational approaches for the transmission of knowledge.

Dissemination.  Scholarship must be in a form that is disseminated and evaluated, allowing critical review.Scholarly work results from a rigorous and structured approach and includes, but is not limited to, peer-reviewed publications; books, book chapters and reviews; preprints and other interim research products; innovative educational materials; peer-reviewed meeting abstracts and presentations; patents, new therapies and technologies; and/or evidence-based products such as policy statements, safety and quality studies, innovations in patient care, and clinical guidelines.

Impact.  Scholarship has a measurable impact at the local, regional, national or international level on a discipline, practice or community. For example, a research discovery influences the direction of a field or provides a platform for others to build on; a meta-analysis integrates an area of knowledge for new policies or guidelines; application of knowledge to clinical practice improves the health of individuals or communities; a novel educational approach enhances learning.

Evaluation

Scholarship is evaluated by the quality and quantity of a body of scholarly work and the depth and breadth of impact of the scholarship. The quality, quantity, and impact of scholarly work should be judged in the context of the field or discipline. The impact of scholarship may be assessed by measures of the influence of the work on a discipline, practice or community, including statements from evaluators. The impact of the scholarship (local, regional, national, international) and the academic reputation of a Faculty Member is expected to expand with academic rank.

Scholarship may include contributions to the scholarly work of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teams. In such cases, the specific contributions of the individual to the work must be clear, substantial, and supported by statements of the individual’s role and intellectual contributions to the work.