Background: The General Practice Evaluation Program (GPEP) funded general practice research between 1990-1999. We were interested in the publication rate of GPEP funded research as a measure of its research productivity.
Methods: A literature search and an email survey of GPEP researchers. We compared publication rates between the types of grants, types of institutions, and academic status of the authors.
Results: By June 2002, there were 201 peer reviewed articles in a range of 64 Australian and international peer reviewed journals from 99 projects (41% of completed or in progress projects, mean 2.3 per project), ranging from 0-22 per project. Forty-one investigators indicated they were in the process of writing for publication or plan to publish. They were more likely to publish with the support of a university.
Discussion: GPEP has achieved one of its major objectives--to contribute to evidence and knowledge about general practice. The publication rate indicates that Australian general practice research should still improve.