Capturing faculty inclusion activities in academic medicine: the inclusion activity scale and the inclusion engagement score

Academic promotion at academic medical centers (AMC) relies on excellence in research, teaching, clinical skills, and leadership. Most mission statements of AMCs also emphasize a commitment to inclusion. Increasingly, faculty involvement in inclusion activities is considered during promotion reviews; Metrics and tools that recognize and measure inclusion-related activities may play an important role in the promotion and retention of underrepresented in medicine (URiM) faculty, given their disproportionate contributions to these efforts. We developed the Inclusion Activity Scale (IAS), a survey tool describing inclusion-related activities among academic medicine diversity and inclusion leaders across AMC institutions in the U.S. A total of 104 faculty inclusion activities were categorized across five domains: teaching/mentoring, clinical service, research/scholarly work, community engagement, and leadership. We weighted each activity by level of effort to generate domain-specific and total Inclusion Engagement Scores (IES). We then conducted a cross-sectional survey of 300 faculty who were diversity and inclusion leaders in AMCs between September 2023 and April 2025 to assess inclusion-related activities IES by URiM status using t-tests. 134 diversity and inclusion faculty leaders from 50 academic medical centers across 29 U.S. states, including DC, and the AAMC completed the survey (44% response rate). URiM faculty scored significantly higher on total IES and in the domains of teaching, leadership, and community engagement compared to non-URiM faculty. The IAS tool systematically catalogs inclusion-related activities and engagement by diversity and inclusion faculty leaders in academic medical centers. URiM faculty participate in more inclusion activities than non-URiM faculty, specifically in the domains of teaching, leadership, and community engagement. We present the IES as an exploratory summary measure derived from the IAS. Further research is needed to establish the measure’s validity and reliability and to understand how the IES may influence academic promotion and the missions of academic medical centers.