Publish or Perish: A Cross-Sectional, Bibliometric Analysis of Physician Assistant Faculty Publications

Little is known about physician assistant (PA) educators' publishing practices and the collective impact of their published works. The goal of this study was to describe the scholarly output of the PA professoriate in a way that is useful to both promotion committees and individual educators who are planning careers.

A cross-sectional study was performed to demonstrate publishing patterns. The name of each PA-credentialed educator in academic health centers was searched in Scopus. Citations of peer-reviewed articles published through 2019 were retrieved and de-duplicated. The number of publications, h-indices, journal names, and keywords were collected between May 2019 and January 2020. Differences among academic ranks were explored, and keywords were analyzed. Frequently used journals were determined and their impact factors retrieved.

A total of 364 faculty met inclusion criteria. Between 1972 and 2019, 895 peer-reviewed articles were published; 603 were published in the last 10 years. Approximately half the study cohort (n = 172) published at least one peer-reviewed article that met inclusion criteria (range 1-89; median = 2). Overall, productivity remained steady over the last 10 years (range 0-59; median = 2). Faculty at the professor and associate level had a median h-index of 2.00 and assistants had a median h-index of 1.00. PhD-prepared faculty published more articles and had higher h-indices than faculty with other types of degrees.

The results provide benchmarking data that can be used for promotion and professional development. More faculty must publish and increase the citation rate of their publications if we are to improve the reputation of the PA educator literature.