Exploring Impact and Variability of Research Productivity Among Academic Orthopaedic Leaders

Area of Science:

• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Academic Medicine
• Bibliometrics

Background:

• Evaluating scholarly contributions in academic orthopaedic surgery is crucial for leadership assessment.
• The Hirsch (h)-index and m-index provide objective metrics for publication productivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the h- and m-indices of orthopaedic surgery department chairs and residency program directors in the US.
• To assess the relationship between these indices and orthopaedic program rankings.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Doximity rankings for US orthopaedic surgery residency programs.
• Collected h-index data from Scopus and calculated m-indices.
• Confirmed leadership positions and gathered biographical data from institutional websites.

Main Results:

• Department chairs exhibited significantly higher h- and m-indices than program directors.
• Leaders at top-10 ranked programs showed higher indices compared to the overall cohort.
• A direct linear association was found between leaders' h- and m-indices and program rank.

Conclusions:

• Department chairs generally have higher publication productivity than program directors.
• Higher scholarly output among orthopaedic leaders correlates with higher program rankings.
• Significant variation exists in publication productivity among academic orthopaedic leaders.