A comprehensive analysis of the demographics and citation-based productivity of radiation oncologists practicing at comprehensive cancer centers.

Abstract

11001 Background: Academic radiation oncology represents a constantly changing landscape. We sought to determine the demographic makeup of the current academic radiation oncology workforce. Methods: Internet searches of the 51 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers were conducted in September 2019. The Scopus database was subsequently searched in December 2019 to ascertain the h-index for each radiation oncologist. H-indices were analyzed by faculty rank (junior faculty versus associate professor versus full professor) and gender. Variables were coalesced for statistical analysis using Fisher’s exact test and two-tailed t-tests. Results: Analysis of 993 radiation oncologists revealed that 53.6% are junior faculty, 24.8% are associate professors, and 21.7% are full professors. The average radiation oncologist has been an MD for 19.6 years; 32.5% (232/993) are women, and less than 5% (47/993) are underrepresented minorities (URM). Of the 51 department chairs, 11.8% are women and 5.6% are underrepresented minorities. Women are significantly underrepresented among full professors (odds ratio = 1.78; p = 0.010) and departmental chairs (odds ratio = 3.80; p = 0.0007); there was no significant difference for assistant professorship (p = 0.067) nor associate professorship (p = 0.348). The overall mean h-index for all faculty was 17.64. Mean h-index was 8.21 for junior faculty, 18.46 for associate professors, and 40.05 for full professors; these differences were statistically significant (p < 0.0001). The overall mean h-index was 19.35 for men (n = 668) and 14.11 for women (n = 323); this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The majority of academic radiation oncologists are assistant professors; fewer than 5% are underrepresented minorities. Men comprise more than two-thirds of the workforce, and are significantly overrepresented at the full professor (by 78%) and departmental chair (by 280%) levels in academic radiation oncology. The average radiation oncologist at a comprehensive cancer center has published more than 17 manuscripts cited at least 17 times. Contrary to previous findings comparing male and female residents, the difference in academic productivity by gender among faculty was statistically significant. These findings provide objective data to assess the radiation oncology academic workforce and provide a useful benchmark to measure change going forward.