Abstract: Which Funding Sources are the Greatest Contributors to Scholastic Productivity for Academic Plastic Surgeons?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Scholastic productivity has previously been shown to be positively associated with National Institute of Health (NIH) grants and industry funding. 1–3 This study examines whether society, industry or federal funding contributes towards academic productivity as measured by scholastic output of academic plastic surgeons. METHODS: Institution websites were used to acquire academic attributes of full-time academic plastic surgeons. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payment database, NIH reporter, the Plastic Surgery Foundation (PSF), and American Association of Plastic Surgeons (AAPS) websites were accessed for funding and endowment details. Bibliometric data of each surgeon were then collected via Scopus to ascertain strengths of association with each source. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify significant contributors to high scholastic output. RESULTS: We identified 935 academic plastic surgeons with 94 (10.1%), 24 (2.6%), 724 (77.4%), and 62 (6.6%) receiving funding from PSF, AAPS, industry, and NIH respectively. There were positive correlations in receiving NIH, PSF, and/or AAPS funding (p<0.001), while industry funding was found to negatively associate with PSF (r=-0.75, p=0.022) grants. The NIH R award was consistently found to be the most predictive of academic output across bibliometrics, followed by the AAPS academic scholarship award. Conventional measures of academic seniority remained predictive across all measures used. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates for the first time interactions between industry, federal and association funding. The NIH R award was the strongest determinant of high scholastic productivity. Recognition through AAPS academic scholarships appeared to associate with subsequent success in NIH funding. Reference Citations: 1. Gast KM, Kuzon WM, Jr., Adelman EE, Waljee JF. Influence of training institution on academic affiliation and productivity among plastic surgery faculty in the United States. Plast Reconstr Surg. Sep 2014;134(3):570–578. 2. Lopez J, Susarla SM, Swanson EW, Calotta N, Lifchez SD. The Association of the H-Index and Academic Rank Among Full-Time Academic Hand Surgeons Affiliated With Fellowship Programs. J Hand Surg Am. Jul 2015;40(7):1434–1441. 3. Ruan QZ, Ricci JA, Silvestre J, Ho OA, Lee BT. Academic productivity of faculty associated with microsurgery fellowships. Microsurgery. Dec 26 2016.