The Impact of Fellowship Training on Peer-Reviewed Publication Productivity in Academic Anesthesiologists as Evaluated by the h-Index.

BACKGROUND

The effect of anesthesiology fellowships on scholarly contributions has been minimally studied. In this study we analyzed differences in h-index between fellowship-trained and non-fellowship-trained anesthesiologists, as well as by type of fellowship, academic rank, and years in practice.

METHODS

All anesthesiologists on staff between September 1, 2021, and August 31, 2022, were included in this study. The variables collected were fellowship training status, h-index, total number of publications, years in practice, academic rank, and years at the institution. For analysis, the anesthesiologists were divided into 2 groups: those with fellowship training and those without.

RESULTS

Among 78 anesthesiologists, 40 were not fellowship-trained and 38 were, with 10 types of anesthesiology fellowships identified. The h-index and number of publications did not differ between fellowship-trained and non-fellowship-trained anesthesiologists, and the number of publications per years in practice did not differ by fellowship type. The number of publications per years in practice was higher in the fellowship-trained group than in the non-fellowship-trained group (1.2 ± 1.1 vs. 0.71 ± 0.6; P = .04), as was the number of publications per years in practice at our institution (1.5 ± 1.1 compared with 0.9 ± 0.9; P = .0093).

CONCLUSION

Fellowship training among academic anesthesiologists was not associated with a difference in h-index. However, fellowship training was associated with a higher number of publications per years in practice. Further research could elucidate the usefulness of h-index to support career development and contributions of anesthesiologists in academia.