Analysis of publication trends and its relationship with academic success among dermatology residents and fellows

Abstract

Background: Exposure to academic research is regarded as a meaningful component of medical training. Despite the importance placed on research activities, little is known regarding the extent to which dermatology residents and fellows participate in research. Thus, we sought to determine if research productivity during residency and fellowship training predicted future research and academic success.

Methods: We assessed whether research productivity during residency predicted future research and academic success. We searched for names of graduates from a random sample of 50 reputable dermatology programs. For each of the 202 graduates included, we determined the number of peer-reviewed publications (published before, during, and after residency), the total number of first authored peer-reviewed publications, H-index score, fellowship program, and if the graduate is currently working in a private or academic setting.

Results: One hundred dermatology residency programs were identified, for which 50 were included in our sample. Graduate rosters were available for 16 programs (32%) with a total 202 residents. The majority of graduates had 1-5 publications (94/202, 46.5%), with 28/202 (13.8%) having 0 publications and 8/202 (3.96%) having >30 publications. The average number of publications prior to residency was 0.98, 3.33 during residency, and 3.39 after residency. Overall, the average number of total publications per resident was 7.71. Greater than one-half of first-authored publications were completed during residency (347/635, 54.6%). Lastly, one-third of graduates (68/202, 33.6%) elected to pursue a fellowship, and 66 graduates (of 202, 32.6%) chose to pursue a career in academia after completion of residency training.

Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that graduates of dermatology residency and fellowship programs are actively involved in research opportunities throughout their medical training. The value placed on research during dermatology training appears to carry with graduates into their postgraduate career, accounting for the continued research productivity after residency. We emphasize the importance of active involvement in research during and after residency in an effort to equip training physicians with valuable skills in order to accurately interpret and apply research outcomes to better patient care.