Publication metrics by rank: assessing musculoskeletal radiology faculty

Academic promotion in radiology frequently depends on measurable indicators of scholarly productivity such as publications, citations, and h-index. While several radiologic subspecialties have reported benchmarks for academic output, standardized metrics specific to musculoskeletal (MSK) radiology remain unavailable. This study aims to establish national reference values for publication productivity among U.S. MSK radiologists across academic ranks.

A cross-sectional bibliometric analysis of academic MSK radiology faculty in the United States was performed using Scopus data collected in October 2025. Variables extracted included the number of publications, total citations, and h-index. Descriptive statistics and percentile distributions were calculated across ranks (assistant, associate, and full professor). Comparative analyses by sex and rank were performed using nonparametric tests (Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis).

A total of 679 MSK radiologists from 93 academic institutions were included. Scholarly output increased progressively with academic rank (p < 0.001). Median publication counts were 5 for assistant, 15.5 for associate, and 77 for full professors; median citations rose from 38 to 222 to 1915, respectively, while median h-index values increased from 2 to 7 to 23. No significant sex differences were observed at the assistant or associate professor ranks. However, male full professors had higher citations and h-indices compared to female full professors (p = 0.04).

This national analysis provides standardized, rank-specific results for publication productivity in MSK radiology. The percentile-based data offer reference points for self-assessment, departmental evaluation, and promotion considerations, and demonstrate the degree to which scholarly output increases with increasing academic rank.