Relevance of Academic Productivity in the Assessment of Integrated Plastic Surgery Applicants

BACKGROUND: The academic productivity of an integrated plastic surgery applicant is strongly considered during the ranking process but is often difficult to assess. The h-index is a tool that provides an objective measure of both the quality and impact of an author's academic works. The goals of this study were to assess whether the h-index of recently matched plastic surgery interns correlates with their home and eventual residency program characteristics. METHODS: A database of all 2018 interns in integrated plastic surgery programs was created. The SCOPUS database was queried for the h-indices for each individual. RESULTS: In 2018, 77 integrated plastic surgery programs offered a total of 168 PGY1 positions; data was able to be obtained for 131 individuals. The mean h-index was 1.26 (range 0-14), with a mean of 4.22 publications (range 0-58). The h-index increased in concordance with overall number of publications. The h-index of applicants matching at Top 50 NIH Funded institutions had a significantly higher h-index (1.57) compared to those that matched to all other institutions (0.76) (p<0.05). Applicants matching at a "top 20" program as determined by Doximity reputation rankings also had a significantly higher h-index (1.96) compared to those matching at all other programs (0.83) (p< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The h-index of recently matched integrated plastic surgery interns correlates with several factors including program reputation and level of NIH funding. As applicants become increasingly well-qualified and the number of the publications increases commensurately, programs that place an emphasis on academic productivity may consider incorporating the h-index into their evaluation. (C) 2020 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.