TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of fellowship training on research productivity in academic ophthalmology
AU - Huang, Grace
AU - Fang, Christina H.
AU - Lopez, Santiago A.
AU - Bhagat, Neelakshi
AU - Langer, Paul D.
AU - Eloy, Jean Anderson
N1 - Funding Information:
Subspecialty training in ophthalmology has become increasingly common over the past 2 decades. Data from the San Francisco Ophthalmology Fellowship Match and the American Society of Ophthalmic and Plastic Reconstructive Surgery fellowship match reveal that approximately 64% of US ophthalmology residents graduating in 2014 entered a fellowship training program. Currently, 3 subspecialty areas—vitreoretinal disease, cornea and external disease, and glaucoma—capture more than 75% of all residents who match into fellowships. 1
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery.
PY - 2015/5/1
Y1 - 2015/5/1
N2 - Objectives To assess whether scholarly impact of academic ophthalmologists, as measured using the h-index, is affected by fellowship training status and to further characterize differences in productivity among the various subspecialties and by departmental rank. Design A descriptive and correlational design was used. In total, 1440 academic ophthalmologists from 99 ophthalmology training programs were analyzed. The h-index data were obtained from the Scopus database. Faculty members were classified by academic rank and grouped into 10 categories based on fellowship training: anterior segment, corneal and external disease, glaucoma, uveitis and ocular immunology, vitreoretinal disease, ophthalmic plastic surgery, pediatric ophthalmology, neuro-ophthalmology, ophthalmic pathology, and "other." A one-way analysis of variance or Student t test using Microsoft Excel and "R" statistical software were used for comparison of continuous variables, with significance set at p < 0.05. Settings Faculty working in academic ophthalmology residency training programs in the United States whose information is stored in the American Medical Association's Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database. Results Fellowship-trained ophthalmologists had significantly higher research productivity, as measured using the h-index, than non-fellowship-trained ophthalmologists in this study (p < 0.0005). Academic ophthalmologists trained in vitreoretinal disease or ophthalmic pathology had the highest scholarly productivity compared with those in other ophthalmology subspecialties (p < 0.05). There was a significant increase in scholarly productivity with increasing academic rank from Assistant Professor to Professor (p < 0.05). A significant difference in productivity between fellowship-trained and non-fellowship-trained ophthalmologists existed individually only at the level of Assistant Professor (p < 0.0005). Conclusion Academic ophthalmologists with fellowship training have significantly higher scholarly output than non-fellowship-trained ophthalmologists do, as measured using the h-index. Research productivity increases with departmental academic rank from Assistant Professor to Professor.
AB - Objectives To assess whether scholarly impact of academic ophthalmologists, as measured using the h-index, is affected by fellowship training status and to further characterize differences in productivity among the various subspecialties and by departmental rank. Design A descriptive and correlational design was used. In total, 1440 academic ophthalmologists from 99 ophthalmology training programs were analyzed. The h-index data were obtained from the Scopus database. Faculty members were classified by academic rank and grouped into 10 categories based on fellowship training: anterior segment, corneal and external disease, glaucoma, uveitis and ocular immunology, vitreoretinal disease, ophthalmic plastic surgery, pediatric ophthalmology, neuro-ophthalmology, ophthalmic pathology, and "other." A one-way analysis of variance or Student t test using Microsoft Excel and "R" statistical software were used for comparison of continuous variables, with significance set at p < 0.05. Settings Faculty working in academic ophthalmology residency training programs in the United States whose information is stored in the American Medical Association's Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database. Results Fellowship-trained ophthalmologists had significantly higher research productivity, as measured using the h-index, than non-fellowship-trained ophthalmologists in this study (p < 0.0005). Academic ophthalmologists trained in vitreoretinal disease or ophthalmic pathology had the highest scholarly productivity compared with those in other ophthalmology subspecialties (p < 0.05). There was a significant increase in scholarly productivity with increasing academic rank from Assistant Professor to Professor (p < 0.05). A significant difference in productivity between fellowship-trained and non-fellowship-trained ophthalmologists existed individually only at the level of Assistant Professor (p < 0.0005). Conclusion Academic ophthalmologists with fellowship training have significantly higher scholarly output than non-fellowship-trained ophthalmologists do, as measured using the h-index. Research productivity increases with departmental academic rank from Assistant Professor to Professor.
KW - Academic promotion
KW - Fellowship training
KW - H-Index
KW - Ophthalmology
KW - Research productivity
KW - Scholarly productivity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84926615320&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84926615320&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2014.10.010
DO - 10.1016/j.jsurg.2014.10.010
M3 - Article
C2 - 25467730
AN - SCOPUS:84926615320
SN - 1931-7204
VL - 72
SP - 410
EP - 417
JO - Journal of Surgical Education
JF - Journal of Surgical Education
IS - 3
ER -