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Human Capital and Productivity in Surgery Research Across the Globe: A Big Data Analysis Using Artificial
Georgios Karamitros1, Sofoklis Goulas2
1Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland; Medical School, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece; Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, University Hospital of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
The United States leads global surgery research, contributing over 30% of publications. Other key contributors include the UK, China, Japan, and Italy, with significant variations in research output per capita.
Area of Science:
- Surgery
- Medical Research
- Bibliometrics
Background:
- No comprehensive analysis of global surgical knowledge production and human capital exists.
- Previous research focused on limited surgical subspecialties.
- This study aims to identify leading nations in surgery research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess and compare the research productivity and human capital of nations in surgery.
- To identify current and potential future leaders in surgical research globally.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective observational study utilizing web scraping on PubMed.
- Analysis of first and senior authors from 388 surgery journals (2010-2022).
- Country-level human capital proxied by author counts; research productivity assessed by publication volume.
Main Results:
- Over 665,000 publications from 110 countries were analyzed, showing increasing trends.
- The United States dominates, accounting for 30.78% (first authors) and 31.32% (senior authors).
- Leading contributors include China, Japan, the UK, and Italy, with significant disparities in research per capita.
Conclusions:
- The US demonstrates clear leadership in surgical research output.
- Nations with higher author representation may increase future research capacity.
- AI-driven big data analysis is expected to shape future healthcare and policy research.
