Objective:
The goal of this study was to understand the state of scholarship at Pediatric Surgery training programs. We hypothesized that significant differences in institutional productivity would exist based on program age and geographic distribution.
Methods:
The ACGME website was used to identify US Pediatric Surgery training programs. Program websites were used to identify individual surgeons and demographics. Scopus was used to generate individual bibliometric profiles. Appropriate statistical analyses of individuals and programs were performed.
Results:
Information was obtained for all 440 surgeons (104 female) from the 48 training programs. The mean lifetime h-index/surgeon for programs was 15.3+/-6.35, with 3 programs >1SD above and 7 programs >1SD below. The mean 5-year h-index/surgeon for programs was 3.91+/-1.45, with 9 programs >1SD above and 8 programs >1SD below. There were no differences in lifetime or 5-year h-index for programs based on geographic region or year of accreditation (pre/post-2000) (p=NS). Female surgeons had a lower lifetime h-index (11.6+/-7.65 vs. 16.9+/-11, p<0.0001) and 5-year h-index (3.51+/-2.73 vs. 4.59+/-3.19, p=0.0048), likely because of the predominance of lower academic ranks amongst females. Mean lifetime h-index increased with academic rank (Assistant professor: 10.3+/-6.62, Associate professor: 14.3+/-6.44, Professor: 25.4+/-11, p<0.0001), with no gender differences (p=NS).
Conclusion:
This study represents the most detailed analysis of academic productivity in US Pediatric Surgery programs to date. Important variability was identified based on institution, gender and rank. This information will be of use to institutions in benchmarking the academic productivity of faculty and may be an objective adjunct for decisions regarding promotion/tenure.
