Publication output of RANZCR radiation oncologists in 2022-23

The purpose of this work was to determine the current publication output of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists radiation oncologists (ROs) to serve as a baseline contributing to future assessment of the effectiveness of the College's Research Action Plan 2024-26.

An online survey was sent to all ROs in the College's member database in March-April 2024 requesting a list of publications between 2022 and 2023. A PubMed search was performed to cross-check the self-reported publications. Given the low response rate (8%), an additional PubMed search was performed for the non-responders. The primary outcomes were publication proportions and rates, and the secondary outcomes were demographic correlates (gender, country, seniority).

There were 536 eligible ROs (56% males; 80% practicing in Australia; median 12.4 years post-Fellowship) with 1,012 unique publications identified. The proportions of ROs with at least one publication in any-, first- and last-author positions averaged 45%, 15% and 17% per year, respectively. On multivariable analysis, there were statistically significant differences in publications by seniority (higher proportions of last-authorships but lower proportions of first-authorships, for those ≥5 years post-Fellowship) and by country (lower any-, and last-authorships for New Zealand [NZ] than Australia or Singapore). The mean numbers of any-, first- and last-authorships were 1.6, 0.18 and 0.29 per RO per year, respectively. On multivariable analysis, there were statistically significant differences by gender (males had more any-, and first-authorships), seniority (senior ROs had more last-authorships but less first-authorships) and country (lower numbers of any-, and last-authorships for New Zealand).

This organization-wide study provides comprehensive baseline RO publication data and identifies opportunities for the College to further address correlated disparities.