title: Impact of fellowship training on research productivity in academic ophthalmology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess whether scholarly impact of academic ophthalmologists, as measured using the h-index, is affected by fellowship training status and to further characterize differences in productivity among the various subspecialties and by departmental rank.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive and correlational design was used. In total, 1440 academic ophthalmologists from 99 ophthalmology training programs were analyzed. The h-index data were obtained from the Scopus database. Faculty members were classified by academic rank and grouped into 10 categories based on fellowship training: anterior segment, corneal and external disease, glaucoma, uveitis and ocular immunology, vitreoretinal disease, ophthalmic plastic surgery, pediatric ophthalmology, neuro-ophthalmology, ophthalmic pathology, and "other." A one-way analysis of variance or Student t test using Microsoft Excel and "R" statistical software were used for comparison of continuous variables, with significance set at p < 0.05.
  
  
  METHODS
  Faculty working in academic ophthalmology residency training programs in the United States whose information is stored in the American Medical Association's Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fellowship-trained ophthalmologists had significantly higher research productivity, as measured using the h-index, than non-fellowship-trained ophthalmologists in this study (p < 0.0005). Academic ophthalmologists trained in vitreoretinal disease or ophthalmic pathology had the highest scholarly productivity compared with those in other ophthalmology subspecialties (p < 0.05). There was a significant increase in scholarly productivity with increasing academic rank from Assistant Professor to Professor (p < 0.05). A significant difference in productivity between fellowship-trained and non-fellowship-trained ophthalmologists existed individually only at the level of Assistant Professor (p < 0.0005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Academic ophthalmologists with fellowship training have significantly higher scholarly output than non-fellowship-trained ophthalmologists do, as measured using the h-index. Research productivity increases with departmental academic rank from Assistant Professor to Professor.
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Christina H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Santiago A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Neelakshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bhagat
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey; Center for Skull Base and Pituitary Surgery, Neurological Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey; Department of Neurological Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey. Electronic address: jean.anderson.eloy@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jean Anderson
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Eloy
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research; D002322:Career Mobility; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D004526:Efficiency; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000193:education*; D011643:Publishing; D014481:United States
keywords: Medical Knowledge; Practice-Based Learning and Improvement; Professionalism; academic promotion; fellowship training; h-index; ophthalmology; research productivity; scholarly productivity