How to Boost Research Productivity: An American Council of Educators in Plastic Surgery Cross-sectional Survey

Understanding barriers to research is crucial for optimizing the productivity and impact of busy physician-scientists and is an increasingly important metric for students and physicians to advance their careers. The purpose of this study was to identify common barriers to research productivity.

A survey was distributed to members of the American Council of Educators in Plastic Surgery. The questions focused on demographics, research productivity, and barriers to research. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed, with significance defined as a P value less than 0.05.

A total of 109 people responded to the survey: 42 medical students, 19 plastic surgery residents or fellows, 7 junior attendings, and 41 senior attendings. Among people who had more than 10 completed projects, 53.8% also had fewer than 5 incomplete projects. A comparison between successful individuals and the remainder of the cohort found a difference in the percentage of people whose programs had dedicated research staff, provided institutional support for research, and offered travel reimbursement. Predictive factors for success included being a post-graduate year1-3 (odds ratio [OR] 13.3, P = 0.006), junior attending (OR 10.5, P = 0.026), or senior attending (OR 7.8, P = 0.001); having dedicated research staff (OR = 6.1, P = 0.0019); and receiving travel reimbursement (OR 3.1, P = 0.032).

Programs that support research productivity with dedicated research staff and adequate travel reimbursement are likely to have research success. In addition, individuals with high academic productivity are more likely to have the highest number of unsuccessful projects.