Abstract

To identify correlates of external funding for research, a mail survey of the membership of the American Federation for Clinical Research was conducted. Data were collected from 2,642 respondents on research training environment, current work environment, current sources and amounts of external research support, and probability of remaining in research. Respondents reported that they worked 62.4 +/- 20.4 hours per week, and that their dominant activities were research (37% of time), clinical responsibilities (20%), teaching (15%), and administration (13%). Nearly two-thirds reported some external research funding, including 1,371 (52%) individuals who received support as principal investigators from federal agencies. In multivariate analyses, the probability of having federal or nonprofit foundation support was positively correlated with the number of hours per week devoted to research, the number of grants submitted in the previous two years, the amount of research training during fellowship, and the presence of PhD degree recipients in the research training environment; and negatively correlated with the number of hours per week of clinical, teaching, and administrative activities, and having a PhD degree. In contrast, corporate support was positively correlated with the number of hours of total work per week, but negatively correlated with the amount of time currently devoted to research. Respondents who reported that their probability of remaining in research was decreasing had fewer months of research training, greater clinical responsibilities, and less external research support. We conclude that federal and nonprofit foundation support but not corporate support are positively correlated with the adequacy of research training and the amount of time currently devoted to research, and negatively correlated with clinical responsibilities.