Audit of research activity

The first author collected research activity across all eight AHP uni-disciplinary teams (social work, psychology, physiotherapy, pharmacy, medical imaging, occupational therapy, nutrition and speech pathology) for a 20-month period (January 2013 to August 2014). Four outcomes were used to measure research activity within each team: (1) total number of journal publications authored by an AHP within the team, (2) amount (AUD$) of competitive research grant funding received (3) total number of conference presentations authored by an AHP within the team, and (4) total number of active ethically approved research projects which included an AHP team member as a principal investigator. The first three measures were chosen due to their frequent use in measuring research performance within healthcare [19, 28]. The fourth was chosen as it encompasses a number of research skills including literature review, research conceptualisation and protocol design, includes a stringent peer review process, and may capture the research activity of teams which exist outside of research funding [11].

The first author collected data for the audit by accessing local Human Research and Ethics Committee records, consulting with relevant employees from professions and teams (including professional team leaders), and accessing current registers and databases of research activity, funding and publications. Professional leads were invited to review the final data collected from the audit to ensure its accuracy.