Abstract
Purpose :
Research productivity is essential in career advancement within ophthalmology. The gold standard quantification of research productivity is the Hirsch index (h-index). Relative citation ratio (RCR), an article-level, citation-driven metric, has been proposed as a more accurate bibliometric measure. Our study evaluates RCR among ophthalmology fellowship directors as a measure of research productivity.
Methods :
Academic ophthalmology fellowship programs were identified using the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology Fellowship Compliance Committee. Fellowships were stratified by subspecialty: Cornea, Cornea and Refractive Surgery, Glaucoma, Medical Retina, Neuro-ophthalmology, Pediatric, Surgical Retina, Uveitis, Oculoplastics, and Other. Directors and demographic information were identified using institutional websites. RCR was calculated using the NIH iCite tool, and h-index was calculated using Scopus. Like h-index, weighted RCR (w-RCR) is the sum of an author’s article scores, measuring output. Mean RCR (m-RCR) is the average score of an author’s article, measuring impact. Kruskal-Wallis Tests were utilized to analyze significance.
Results :
Data was available for 366 fellowship program directors. Twenty-five percent had post-baccalaureate degrees in addition to an MD, and 18% held chair positions in their departments. Nineteen percent of directors were assistant professors, 30% were associate professors, and 51% were professors. Across subspecialties, no differences were observed in research productivity, as measured by h-index (p=0.1888) or w-RCR (p=0.3188). However, there were significant differences in impact, as measured by m-RCR (p<0.001). Directors of Oculoplastics had lower m-RCR than Glaucoma (p<0.001), Medical Retina (p=0.0004), Surgical Retina (p=0.0002), and Uveitis (p<0.0001). Pediatric directors had lower m-RCR than Glaucoma (p=0.0002) and Uveitis (p=0.0006) directors. Fellowship directors of Other ophthalmic programs had lower m-RCR than Medical Retina (p=0.0021) and Uveitis (p=0.0011) directors.
Conclusions :
Although fellowship directors overall have similar levels of productivity, directors of Uveitis subspecialties were cited more (higher impact) than those in other fields. We propose the utilization of RCR alongside h-index to comprehensively measure research activity and compare directors across specialties.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.