Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University Medical Center, Augusta, Georgia, USA.
World Neurosurg. 2021 Jul;151:e163-e169. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2021.03.156. Epub 2021 Apr 8.
Academic productivity plays a growing role in professional advancement in academic medicine. This study aimed to assess academic productivity among spine surgeons by investigating differences in h indices between neurological and orthopedic spine surgeons.
The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Neurosurgical Residency Training Program Directory provided names of U.S. and Canadian academic neurological surgeons. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools database was consulted for NIH funding statuses of the surgeons. Scopus yielded the h indices. Orthopedic spine surgeons were identified at the same institutions as the neurological spine surgeons, and NIH funding statuses and h indices were identified from the same databases. Differences between the disciplines and across the categories of NIH funding receipt, having a Ph.D., and academic rank were analyzed.
Inclusion criteria were met by 215 neurological spine surgeons and 513 orthopedic spine surgeons. Neurological spine surgeons had a mean h index of 21.16, and orthopedic spine surgeons had a mean h index of 14.08 (P < 0.0001). Neurological surgeons with NIH funding had higher (P < 0.0001) h indices (34.15) than surgeons without funding (19.29). Likewise, orthopedic surgeons with NIH funding had higher (P < 0.001) h indices (42.83) than surgeons without funding (13.39). Analysis of variance showed that department chairmen and professors had higher h indices than associate or assistant professors among neurological (P < 0.01) and orthopedic (P < 0.001) surgeons.
These results demonstrate the importance of the h index in measuring academic productivity among neurological and orthopedic spine surgeons.
学术成果在学术医学领域的职业发展中起着越来越重要的作用。本研究旨在通过调查神经外科医生和骨科脊柱外科医生的 h 指数差异，评估脊柱外科医生的学术成果。
美国神经外科医师协会（AANS）神经外科住院医师培训计划目录提供了美国和加拿大学术神经外科医生的姓名。美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）研究组合在线报告工具数据库被用来查询外科医生的 NIH 资助状况。Scopus 提供了 h 指数。在相同的机构中确定了骨科脊柱外科医生，并且从相同的数据库中确定了 NIH 资助状况和 h 指数。分析了两个学科之间以及 NIH 资助接受情况、拥有博士学位和学术职称的各个类别的差异。
215 名神经外科医生和 513 名骨科脊柱外科医生符合纳入标准。神经外科医生的平均 h 指数为 21.16，骨科脊柱外科医生的平均 h 指数为 14.08（P < 0.0001）。有 NIH 资助的神经外科医生的 h 指数（34.15）高于没有资助的医生（19.29）（P < 0.0001）。同样，有 NIH 资助的骨科医生的 h 指数（42.83）高于没有资助的医生（13.39）（P < 0.001）。方差分析显示，神经外科（P < 0.01）和骨科（P < 0.001）外科医生中，系主任和教授的 h 指数高于副教授和助理教授。
这些结果表明 h 指数在衡量神经外科和骨科脊柱外科医生的学术成果方面具有重要意义。
