Table 1.

Example metrics for evaluating mentorship at the individual and institutional levels, categorized according to six primary domains

Domain	Category	Individual level	Institutional level
Mentor–mentee relationship	Mentor/mentee satisfaction	Assessments should include mentor’s and mentee’s strengths and weakness, as well as their level of engagement in the relationship. Collected via surveys or interviews, such feedback can be used to improve individual mentoring relationship.	At the divisional, departmental, or school level, regular assessments can help to identify gaps in institutional support. Feedback can be used to direct specific resources toward improving engagement between mentors and mentees.
	Benefits to mentor/mentee	Articulation of the benefits of relationships—for both the mentor and mentee—can help to sustain such engagement over time.	Although mentoring inherently possesses an element of altruism, identification of the perceived benefits at the institutional level can be used to support such relationships and promote activity in this area.
	Costs to mentor/mentee	The costs associated with mentoring relationships (e.g., financial expense, time investments, and opportunity cost) should be articulated and balanced against the perceived benefits.	At an institutional level, the perceived costs of mentorship could serve as a disincentive to such activity. Barriers should be identified and actively addressed.
Career guidance	Mentee career planning	Mentors should provide guidance to mentees in identifying, mapping, and charting progress along optimal career pathways. This may include the recognition and development of specific skills. Tools such as IDPs can enhance such activity.	The assessment of mentee career planning may be limited at an institutional level. However, programs can indirectly measure this through mentee satisfaction surveys or through assessments of IDP implementation, especially around specific mentee career milestones.
	Mentee career advancement	At the individual level, successful mentorship should support career advancement, regardless of the selected track (e.g., research, education, public health, and clinical medicine). This includes appointments and promotions, as well as career productivity recognition (see Academic productivity).	Programs may measure their success according to articulated institutional priorities. For example, departments or schools may emphasize specific career tracks based on their institutional mission and strengths. This may also include the retention of prominent faculty and staff within the institution over time.
Academic productivity	Mentee scholarship	Productivity of mentees is commonly used as an indicator for mentorship success. When assessing an individual mentor–mentee pair, measures may include published articles, accepted conference abstracts, invited talks, funded grants, and courses taught. These metrics may also be expanded to include awards and recognition.	Although the metrics are largely the same, an aggregate assessment at the institutional level may provide the overall productivity resulting from mentoring efforts within a specific program, department, and/or school.
	Impact of mentee scholarship	Understanding the impact of mentee scholarship is critical and should be considered within the scope of academic productivity. This may be focused within the specific academic community (e.g., number of citations for an article) or encompass broader audiences (e.g., incorporation into health policy). Dissemination of work via different platforms—from traditional media to newer social media platforms—may also be considered.	Although the metrics are largely the same, an aggregate assessment at the institutional level may provide the overall productivity resulting from mentoring efforts within a specific program, department, and/or school.
Networking	Connections to new collaborators and research networks	Collaborations are an important part of professional development and mentors serve a role in facilitating such partnerships. At an individual level, however, mapping such relationships may have limited utility. Potential metrics could include collaborative scholarly activity by the mentee and leadership roles within professional societies or research networks.	At an institutional level, newer approaches such as grant mapping, coauthorship mapping, and other bibliometric analyses can demonstrate the level of engagement in the broader academic community. Many of these techniques show professional connections of the mentor and mentee, demonstrating areas of joint collaboration with others.
Wellness	Work–life prioritization	In their interactions with mentees, mentors signal expectations around work–life priorities and model specific behaviors. A general alignment of work–life priorities is needed for a successful mentoring relationship. This may be measured indirectly via satisfaction surveys (see Mentor-mentee relationships).	Institutions often have a prevailing culture about work–life prioritization and, where possible, this should be made explicit. Mentors should be evaluated according to these organizational expectations, as they play a critical role in institutionalizing such priorities.
	General wellness	Mentors play an important role in supporting mentee wellness. They can help trainees to identify sources of conflict between personal and professional priorities, and assist in their resolution.	At an institutional level, using validated instruments, wellness among mentors and mentees can be monitored over time. Programs should consider indirect measures as well, including job turnover over time.
Organizational capacity	Mentoring capacity	–	The pool of qualified faculty is an indicator of organizational support for mentorship. When this number is small, it may threaten the quality of mentorship.
	Organizational support	–	An inventory of institutional policies and programs surrounding mentorship can provide valuable information about organizational support. Instruments that assess the culture of mentorship at the institutional level can provide important insight.
	Diversity	–	Effective mentorship may draw on shared background and experiences. Diversity within the mentorship pool should be promoted and encouraged.
	Mentoring activities by the mentee	In academic settings, mentorship is a cornerstone of ongoing institutional success. As these individuals advance in their careers, expectations for mentorship should grow accordingly. The degree in which they engage in these activities is an indicator of organizational commitment and capacity.	Assessment of ongoing mentorship (i.e., mentees providing support to trainees of their own) should be monitored at an institutional level. Bibliometric analysis, including the mapping of mentoring relationships, can show the “downstream” impact of senior faculty (see Networking).

IDP = individual development plan.