Publication Productivity Among Academic Orthopaedic Surgeons in Canada

Objective The Hirsch Index (h-index) and m-index are often utilized to assess academic productivity and have been widely found to have a positive association with academic promotion and grant selection. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between these indices and academic ranks among Canadian orthopaedic surgery faculty members. Methods Five hundred and sixty-seven Canadian orthopaedic surgery faculty members associated with residency training programs were included in the study. H-indices of individual faculty members were obtained through Elsevier's Scopus database. Faculty members' year of residency graduation was recorded from their respective licensing body database and was utilized as a surrogate for the start of their academic career to determine career duration and calculate the m-index. Faculty members were divided based on their academic rank (assistant, associate and full professors) and subspecialty. Results Increased h-index, m-index and long career duration were associated with increased academic rank, while gender did not demonstrate an association. Overall, males had a significantly higher h-index compared to females, but no significant difference was observed when comparing the m-index between genders. The m-index varied between subspecialties among senior faculty, but not among junior-ranked faculty. Conclusion Bibliometric academic productivity using h-index and m-index is associated with academic ranking among Canadian orthopaedic surgeons at training institutions. Although these indices may provide insight into the academic merits of faculty members, caution must be taken about utilizing it indiscriminately and their limitations must be strongly considered.