Author(s)
Isabel Herzog, BA
Dhruv Mendiratta, BS
Victoria Vought, BA
Rita Vought, BA
Michael Hegazin, DO
Jean Anderson Eloy, MD
Affiliation(s)
New Jersey Medical School;
Abstract:
Educational Objective: At the conclusion of this presentation, the participants should be able to recognize 2022 trends in gender representation, faculty rank, and academic productivity within academic otolaryngology subspecialties.
Objectives: Academic productivity within otolaryngology varies between subspecialties, which influences employment, promotion, and tenure. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of fellowships on the Hirsch index (h index), relative citation ratio (RCR), and demographic characteristics.
Study Design: Retrospective cross-sectional analysis.
Methods: Academic otolaryngology residency programs were identified using the 2022 Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive database. Data on otolaryngologists was collected using institutional websites. RCR was calculated using the NIH iCite tool, and h index was calculated using Scopus. Mean RCR (m-RCR) is the mean score of an author's publications, signifying impact, and weighted RCR (w-RCR) is the sum of an author's scores, representing research output.
Results: Of the 1,949 academic otolaryngologists identified, women were least represented in head and neck (H&N) endocrine surgery (17.31%) and most represented in pediatric otolaryngology (41.80%). Overall, the three most common fellowships were pediatrics (16.3%), H&N surgical oncology (15.9%), and neurotology and skull base surgery (14.5%). It was most common to have completed one fellowship (75.8%). The subspecialty with the greatest proportion of full professors was H&N endocrine surgery (41.18%). The Kruskal Wallis test revealed significant differences in median h index, w-RCR, and m-RCR between subspecialties (p<0.001). H&N endocrine surgery, neurotology and skull base surgery, and sleep surgery had the highest median h index, w-RCR, and m-RCR, respectively. Pediatrics had the lowest median h index and w-RCR, while facial plastics and reconstructive surgery had the lowest median m-RCR.
Conclusions: Trends in gender representation, faculty rank, and academic productivity - both research impact and output - vary by subspecialty in academic otolaryngology.