The research-publication complex and the construct shift in accounting research

AbstractOur objective was to associate characteristics of pediatric critical care medicine (PCCM) fellowship training programs with career outcomes of PCCM physicians, including research publication productivity and employment characteristics. This is a descriptive study using publicly available data from 2557 PCCM physicians from the National Provider Index registry. We analyzed data on a systematic sample of 690 PCCM physicians representing 62 fellowship programs. There was substantial diversity in the characteristics of fellowship training programs in terms of fellowship size, intensive care unit (ICU) bed numbers, age of program, location, research rank of affiliated medical school, and academic metrics based on publication productivity of their graduates standardized over time. The clinical and academic attributes of fellowship training programs were associated with publication success and characteristics of their graduates' employment hospital. Programs with greater publication rate per graduate had more ICU beds and were associated with higher ranked medical schools. At the physician level, training program attributes including larger size, older program, and higher academic metrics were associated with graduates with greater publication productivity. There were varied characteristics of current employment hospitals, with graduates from larger, more academic fellowship training programs more likely to work in larger pediatric intensive care units (24 [interquartile range, IQR: 16–35] vs. 19 [IQR: 12–24] beds; p < 0.001), freestanding children's hospitals (52.6 vs. 26.3%; p < 0.001), hospitals with fellowship programs (57.3 vs. 40.3%; p = 0.01), and higher affiliated medical school research ranks (35.5 [IQR: 14–72] vs. 62 [IQR: 32, unranked]; p < 0.001). Large programs with higher academic metrics train physicians with greater publication success (H index 3 [IQR: 1–7] vs. 2 [IQR: 0–6]; p < 0.001) and greater likelihood of working in large academic centers. These associations may guide prospective trainees as they choose training programs that may foster their career values.

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Accounting research production and evaluation: The view of the professionals

FINANCIAL REPORTING ◽

10.3280/fr2017-002008 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 75-80

Author(s):

Orazio Vagnozzi

Keyword(s):

The Other ◽

Methodological Issues ◽

Accounting Research ◽

Research Production ◽

Accounting Practice ◽

Mutual Knowledge ◽

The One

The existence of a gap between accounting research and accounting practice has been extensively described in literature. In order to be able to publish a research in a high-ranked accounting journal, it seems that methodological issues are more important than those related to the relevance of the topics covered. To improve research and accounting practice and to avoid the risk of accounting research becoming selfreferential, every effort should be made to bridge the current gap between research and accounting practice. To this end, the development of mutual knowledge of the agenda of researchers and practitioners on the one hand, and participation in joint projects on the other, could represent possible future solutions to be pursued.

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The usefulness of accounting research: A practitioner's point of view

FINANCIAL REPORTING ◽

10.3280/fr2017-002007 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 67-74

Author(s):

Giovanni Andrea Toselli

Keyword(s):

Point Of View ◽

Chief Financial Officers ◽

Industrial System ◽

Academic Institutions ◽

Accounting Research ◽

Strong Feeling ◽

Financial Communication

This paper represents a contribution from the point of view of a practitioner who strongly believes that it is essential to continue to invest in accounting research. The cooperation between chief financial officers, auditors and academic institutions is central not only for improving the process of accounting regulations but also for relaunching, at the same time, the industrial system (and not only it), by creating a strong feeling of trust in general economic and financial communication, thus fostering higher level of accountability.

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Increasing the value of accounting research: An Italian perspective

FINANCIAL REPORTING ◽

10.3280/fr2017-002003 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 29-42

Author(s):

Aldo Pavan ◽

Isabella Fadda

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Methods ◽

Empirical Research ◽

Policy Recommendations ◽

Business World ◽

Accounting Research ◽

Business Objects ◽

To Come ◽

Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

Accounting research has a speculative and normative tradition. Starting at the beginning of the 1970s, empirical methodologies gained prominence and the boundaries of accounting disciplines have become uncertain. Quantitative and qualitative methods tend to overwhelm the accounting and business objects; often they are only suitable to deal with past and narrow phenomena. Empirical methodologies need reference theories, coming from other disciplines and particularly economics and sociology. In this context, it is questioned if accounting research does exist anymore and if it is relevant to the business world. Some scholars have begun to wonder whether it would be appropriate to revalue normative approaches in order to conduct a type of research which is useful to the society and allows the preservation of specific accounting knowledge. A necessity emerges to come back to the prominence of business and accounting issues over methodologies and sociological theories. Research should be directed to tackle wide and current phenomena, not just the narrow and past ones. Speculative thinking has to be reassessed and empirical findings should be used to strengthen it as starting premises. Explaining phenomena is not enough; empirical research has to go beyond its findings; the emphasis should be shifted to the drawing of policy recommendations.

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