A Bibliometric Analysis of Ophthalmology Resident Research Productivity in the United States

Abstract

Background The extent and impact of ophthalmology resident scholarly output is not well known. The authors aim to quantify scholarly activity of ophthalmology residents during residency and assess what factors may be associated with greater research productivity of these residents.

Material and Methods Ophthalmology residents who graduated in 2021 were identified from their respective program Web sites. Bibliometric data published by these residents between the beginning of their postgraduate year 2 (July 1, 2018) until 3 months after graduation (September 30, 2021) were captured through searches via PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The association of the following factors with greater research productivity numbers was analyzed: residency tier, medical school rank, sex, doctorate degree, type of medical degree, and international medical graduate status.

Results We found 418 ophthalmology residents from 98 residency programs. These residents published a mean (±standard deviation [SD]) number of 2.68 ± 3.81 peer-reviewed publications, 2.39 ± 3.40 ophthalmology-related publications, and 1.18 ± 1.96 first-author publications each. The mean (±SD) Hirsch index (h-index) for this cohort was 0.79 ± 1.17. Upon multivariate analysis, we discovered significant correlations between both residency tier and medical school rank and all bibliometric variables assessed. Pairwise comparisons revealed that residents from higher tier programs had greater research productivity numbers than those from lower tier programs.

Conclusion We obtained bibliometric standards for ophthalmology residents on a national scale. Residents who graduated from higher-ranked residency programs and medical schools possessed higher h-indices and published more peer-reviewed publications, ophthalmology-related articles, and first-author publications.

Keywords

ophthalmology residency - bibliometric analysis - research productivity - h-index

Data Sharing Statement

The data used to support our findings were obtained from publicly available Web sites as detailed in our methods section; no new data was generated through this study.

Authors' Contributions

A.H., S.P.Y., and Z.A. designed the project; A.H., S.K., H.Z., N.P., X.Y.O., and R.P.K. conducted data collection; A.H. analyzed the data; A.H. wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed, edited, and approved the article.

Publication History

Received: 14 April 2022

Accepted: 27 September 2022

Article published online:
19 November 2022

• References

• 1 Bargoud A, Thangamathesvaran L, Patel V. et al. Quantifying the impact of research on matching into ophthalmology residency. J Acad Ophthalmol 2018; 10: e133-e139
• 2 Kempton JE, Shields MB, Afshari NA, Dou W, Adelman RA. Fellow selection criteria. Ophthalmology 2009; 116 (05) 1020-1020.e4
• 3 Meyer DR, Dewan MA. Fellowship selection criteria in ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery. Ophthal Plast Reconstr Surg 2010; 26 (05) 357-359
• 4 ACGME program requirements for graduate medical education in ophthalmology. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education; 2020
• 5 Rowley JP, Sindhu KK, Smith WH. et al. Radiation Oncology Resident Research Productivity in the United States. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2021; 109 (04) 1111-1118
• 6 Khan NR, Saad H, Oravec CS. et al. An analysis of publication productivity during residency for 1506 neurosurgical residents and 117 residency departments in North America. Neurosurgery 2019; 84 (04) 857-867
• 7 Holtestaul T, Jones I, Colburn Z. et al. Publication productivity and bibliometric profiling of graduating general surgery chief residents. JAMA Surg 2021; 156 (08) 793-794
• 8 Hirsch JE. An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2005; 102 (46) 16569-16572
• 9 Doximity Residency Navigator 2020 - 2021. 2021 Accessed January 1, 2022, at: http://residency.doximity.com
• 10 Best Medical Schools. Research. US News & World Report; 2021. Accessed January 1, 2022, at: https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings
• 11 Ver Hoef JM, Boveng PL. Quasi-Poisson vs. negative binomial regression: how should we model overdispersed count data?. Ecology 2007; 88 (11) 2766-2772
• 12 Maisner RS, Cadwell JB, Mansukhani PA. et al. Trends in female plastic surgery resident authorship - signs of changing times?. J Surg Educ 2022; 79 (02) 282-291
• 13 Kramer PW, Kohnen T, Groneberg DA, Bendels MHK. Sex disparities in ophthalmic research: a descriptive bibliometric study on scientific authorships. JAMA Ophthalmol 2019; 137 (11) 1223-1231
• 14 Loh AR, Joseph D, Keenan JD, Lietman TM, Naseri A. Predictors of matching in an ophthalmology residency program. Ophthalmology 2013; 120 (04) 865-870
• 15 Chandra A, Brandel MG, Wadhwa H. et al. The path to U.S. neurosurgical residency for foreign medical graduates: trends from a decade 2007-2017. World Neurosurg 2020; 137: e584-e596
• 16 Mellia JA, Jou C, Rathi S. et al. An in-depth analysis of research output in successful integrated plastic surgery match applicants and factors associated with matching at top-ranked programs. J Surg Educ 2021; 78 (01) 282-291
• 17 Huang A, Gunther JR, Lin LL. Analyzing the role of research in the radiation oncology match. Adv Radiat Oncol 2022; 7 (03) 100891
• 18 Thangamathesvaran L, M Patel N, Siddiqui SH. et al. The otolaryngology match: a bibliometric analysis of 222 first-year residents. Laryngoscope 2019; 129 (07) 1561-1566
• 19 Kashkoush A, Prabhu AV, Tonetti D, Agarwal N. The neurosurgery match: a bibliometric analysis of 206 first-year residents. World Neurosurg 2017; 105: 341-347
• 20 Ophthalmology Residency Match Summary Report 2021. 2021 Accessed January 1, 2022, at: https://sfmatch.org/files/b607183ef6e44abd8e3b95afb9f01f3a
• 21 Huang A, Kim S, Zhu H. et al. A bibliometric analysis of ophthalmology resident research productivity in the United States. medRxiv 2022;