Factors Associated With Publication Impact at Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Fellowships

Quantitative metrics for comparing fellowship programs are lacking in orthopedic surgery. The purpose of this work was to determine the publication citation frequency at shoulder and elbow fellowships in the United States and to identify factors associated with increased productivity.

American shoulder and elbow fellowship program faculty members in 2015 were identified. Research productivity metrics such as academic career duration, total publications, publications between 2010 and 2014 and total citations were recorded for each faculty member. Citations from total unique publications for each program were recorded. Factors associated with increased citation frequency of publications were identified.

A total of 28 shoulder and elbow training programs with a total of 43 fellowship positions were included for analysis, and a total of 84 surgeons were identified as fellowship faculty. The median [interquartile range] number of citations for total publications from 2010 to 2014 was 1594 [708-4048] per program and 743 [331-1321] per faculty member. Medical school affiliation, number of fellowship faculty, and the fellowship faculty members׳ cumulative years of academic career duration were significantly associated with higher numbers of total program citations on univariate analysis. However, only cumulative faculty years of academic career duration remained significant on multivariate analysis (F = 10.4, p < 0.001).

Total years of experience of a faculty in a fellowship program and medical school affiliation appear to be the most significant factors associated with increased publication citation frequency among many others. These data may be useful for prospective applicants evaluating fellowships and program leadership seeking to improve their academic productivity.