Abstract
Purpose :
Research experience is one criterion of the selection process for applicants to residency training programs. We investigated trends in the quantity, type, and impact of publications over time of medical students who matched into a Canadian Ophthalmology residency program between 2010 and 2022. Canadian data was compared with a U.S. sample.
Methods :
Names of all residents commencing training in ophthalmology in all Canadian programs from 2010 to 2022 were identified. Bibliometric data including publication count and type, authorship position, and H-index corresponding to match year were extracted from Scopus. Descriptive and univariate statistics were used to characterize and assess trends in research productivity.
Results :
461 ophthalmology residents (99% complete data set) from all 15 residency programs representing 1179 publications, including 679 ophthalmology-related publications were identified. The majority were original research (676, 58%), followed by case reports and letters (324, 27%), and reviews (162, 14%). Overall, 62% of residents had at least one publication at the year of the match, with a mean of 2.56 ± 3.49 publications and a mean H-index of 1.03 ± 1.48, as presented in Table 1. There was a significant increase (p < 0.001) in all research productivity metrics except senior authorship in the period 2019 – 2022 compared to 2010 – 2018. Notably, 91% of residents had at least one publication at the time of the match in 2022 compared to 65% in 2017 and 38% in 2010. Similar to the 12-year Canadian data, U.S. data comparing match years 2017 and 2022 observed a doubling of publication count from a mean of 1.67 ± 0.23 to 3.04 ± 0.35.
Conclusions :
Canadian first-year ophthalmology resident publication productivity doubled from 2010 – 2016 to 2017 – 2022 suggesting a greater emphasis on scholarly work from medical trainees, a trend similar to that reported in other surgical specialties. Further work is needed to understand which trainee- and institutional-level factors contribute to this trend in the Canadian setting.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.