Impact of gap year on research productivity during ophthalmology residency

Abstract

Purpose : The competitiveness of matching into residency may drive medical students to pursue a gap year following graduation to increase their publication portfolio. We performed a retrospective analysis to evaluate whether a gap year significantly predicts scholarly productivity during ophthalmology residency.

Methods : Residents were recorded from 110 publicly available American ophthalmology residency program webpages. Publication data was referenced from Scopus and PubMed. Research productivity was measured in total publications, first and second-author publications, Top ten impact factor ophthalmology journals, and publications with senior authors affiliated with the resident’s medical school or residency program. Pearson chi-squared and independent sample t-tests were used to assess if there were significant differences between gap-year and non-gap-year residents in demographic characteristics and mean research productivity. Multivariable binary logistic regression assessed if gap years were significant predictors of resident research productivity.

Results : 1206 residents were analyzed, with 1036 (85.9%) residents going straight from medical school to residency and 170 (14.1%) residents with at least one gap year. Significant differences between both cohorts were observed in total (p<.001) and second-author publications (p=.005), high-impact journals (p=.005), and senior authors affiliated with the medical school (p=.034). Gap-year residents were predicted to have over a two-fold increase in the probability of publishing at least one, two, or five total articles during residency. Residents who took a gap year were more likely to publish at least two second author articles and at least one article in a high-impact journal. There was no significant relationship between gap years and publications with senior authors affiliated with either the resident’s medical school or residency program.

Conclusions : Residents taking gap years following graduation are significantly more likely to have increased total publications during residency, but these publications are not associated with senior authors at their institutions. Future investigations should continue to evaluate the significance of gap years in medical education.

This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.