Evaluation of the National Institutes of Health–Supported Relative Citation Ratio Among Fellowship-Trained American Orthopaedic Joint Reconstruction Surgery Faculty: A New Bibliometric Measure of Scientific Influence

Abstract

BackgroundThe relative citation ratio (RCR), a novel National Institutes of Health–Supported measure of research productivity, allows for accurate interdisciplinary comparison of publication influence. This study evaluates the RCR of fellowship-trained adult reconstructive orthopaedic surgeons with the goal of analyzing potentially influential physician demographics. MethodsAdult Reconstruction Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education fellowship-trained faculty for orthopaedic residency programs were identified via departmental websites. The National Institutes of Health’s iCite database was retrospectively reviewed for mean RCR, weighted RCR, and publication count by surgeon. Multivariate analyses were performed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and analyses of variance testing to compare sex, career length, academic rank, and professional degrees in addition to an MD or DO. Significance was considered P < .05. ResultsA total of 488 fellowship-trained adult reconstruction faculty from 144 programs were included in the analysis. Overall, the faculty recorded a median RCR of 1.65 (interquartile range: 1.01-2.28) and a median weighted RCR of 16.59 (interquartile range: 3.98-61.92). The weighted RCR and total number of publications were associated with academic rank and career longevity, while the mean RCR was associated with academic rank. The median RCR ranged from 1.12 to 1.87 for all subgroups. ConclusionAdult reconstruction faculty are exceptionally productive and generate highly impactful studies as evidenced by the high median RCR value relative to the National Institutes of Health standard value of 1.0. Our data have important implications in the assessment of grant outcomes, promotion, and continued evaluation of research influence within the hip and knee community.