H-Index Predicts Academic Rank Among Full-time Academic Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeons Affiliated with Fellowship Programs

Objectives: The purpose was to investigate the association between Hirsch index (H-index) and academic rank among orthopaedic trauma surgeons affiliated with Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) fellowship programs with academic appointments. Additional variables investigated included total number of publications and training program affiliation. Design: Database review. Participants: Orthopaedic trauma surgery faculty members at OTA and ACGME orthopaedic trauma surgery fellowship. Main outcome measurement: H-index, total number of publications, academic rank, and fellowship training pedigree. Results: The H-indices of 273 orthopaedic traumatologists from 57 fellowship programs were organized and calculated. There are strong correlations among total number of publications, citations, and H-index. Overall, there is a strong association with number of publications, number of citations, and H-index with higher academic rank. Overall, H-index was a stronger predictor of academic rank than total number of publications and citations. Appointment to the same program as an individual’s fellowship training program and orthopaedic subspeciality fellowship outside of traumatology were not associated with academic rank. Level of Evidence: IV, case series Key words: trauma, fellowship, academic rank, H-index