title: What's in a Number? Examining the Effect of a Dedicated Research Year on H-Index and Fellowship Decision-making.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effect of a dedicated research year on the h-indices of residents and the pursuit of fellowship within a heterogeneous group of urology programs. We previously demonstrated that urology residents with a dedicated research year produce more than 2 times the number of publications than their counterparts in 5-year programs. However, we did not give consideration to the impact of these publications.
  
  
  METHODS
  We obtained information on the publication output and pursuit of fellowship of graduates from the New York Section urology residency programs from 2009 to 2013. Data on peer-reviewed publications were obtained by PubMed query and h-index was documented from the Scopus database.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the 5-year study period, 148 individuals (116 M, 32 F) graduated from New York Section urology programs. The mean h-index was 4.6 for residents in 5-year programs compared with 8.1 for those in 6-year programs (P < .001). Residents with a dedicated research year were more likely to pursue fellowship training (79.3% vs 58.8%, P = .023) with no difference in the pursuit of accredited fellowship programs. Those residents who went on to fellowship training had a significantly higher h-index (6.2 vs 3.6, P = .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Urology residents with a dedicated research year have almost 2 times the h-indices of their counterparts. Residents who pursue fellowship training also have higher h-indices. Residents who completed a dedicated research year were more likely to pursue fellowship training, although the accreditation status of these programs was variable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY. Electronic address: cmm2236@cumc.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Carrie M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mlynarczyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Julia B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Finkelstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Ifeanyi C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Onyeji
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Jason P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Van Batavia
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Rosoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Gina M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Badalato
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000193:education*; D003657:Decision Making; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014572:Urology / Q000193:education*