Research productivity from 2013 to 2018 of 187 general surgeons in Canada, stratified by graduate degree status
| Characteristic | All surgeons n = 187 | MD only n = 78 | MD–master’s n = 84 | MD–PhD n = 25 | Maximum | p value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Group | MD v. MD–master’s | MD v. MD–PhD | MD–master’s v. MD–PhD | |||||
| Years worked, mean | 5.3 | 5.6 | 4.9 | 5.4 | |||||
| Years worked, median (IQR) | 6.0 (6.0–6.0) | 6.0 (6.0–6.0) | 6.0 (4.0–6.0) | 6.0 (6.0–6.0) | 6.0 | ||||
| Total publications, median (IQR) | 8.0 (2.0–22.0) | 4.0 (1.0–9.0) | 11.0 (4.3–28.8) | 21.0 (4.0–32.5) | 182.0 | MD–master’s | < 0.0001 | 0.0003 | > 1.0 |
| Publications per year, median (IQR) | 1.5 (0.5–4.2) | 0.7 (0.2–1.5) | 2.8 (1.0–5.9) | 3.7 (0.9–5.8) | 30.3 | MD–master’s | < 0.0001 | < 0.0001 | > 1.0 |
| First-authorship publications, median (IQR) | 0 (0–2.0) | 0 (0–0.3) | 1.0 (0–3.0) | 1.0 (0–5.0) | 38.0 | MD–master’s | < 0.0001 | 0.0004 | > 1.0 |
| Middle-authorship publications, median (IQR) | 6.0 (1.0–16.0) | 1.0 (0.8–7.0) | 7.0 (2.0–20.3) | 11.0 (2.5–22.5) | 97.0 | MD–master’s | 0.0004 | 0.002 | > 1.0 |
| Last-authorship publications, median (IQR) | 1.0 (0–5.0) | 0 (0–2.0) | 2.0 (0.3–8.8) | 3.0 (0.5–7.0) | 61.0 | MD–PhD | < 0.0001 | 0.0007 | > 1.0 |
| Authors per paper, median (IQR) | 7.0 (5.0–8.0) | 6.0 (3.8–8.0) | 7.0 (5.0–8.0) | 6.5 (6.0–8.0) | 35.5 | MD–master’s | 0.4 | > 1.0 | > 1.0 |
| CiteScore, median (IQR) | 4.3 (3.0–5.3) | 3.7 (2.4–4.8) | 4.6 (3.6–5.4) | 4.9 (3.0–5.5) | 29.6 | MD–master’s | 0.009 | 0.05 | > 1.0 |
| Total citations, median (IQR) | 75.0 (13.0–337.0) | 28.0 (4.8–92.3) | 168.0 (31.3–540.4) | 362.0 (59.0–715.0) | 6395.0 | MD–master’s | < 0.0001 | < 0.0001 | > 1.0 |
| Citations per paper, median (IQR) | 7.0 (3.0–11.0) | 4.8 (1.9–9.0) | 8.0 (4.0–11.0) | 9.0 (4.0–11.0) | 104.5 | MD–PhD | 0.01 | 0.004 | > 1.0 |
| h-index, median (IQR) | 5.0 (2.0–10.0) | 2.0 (1.0–6.0) | 8.0 (3.3–13.0) | 10.0 (3.5–14.0) | 35.0 | MD–master’s | < 0.0001 | < 0.0001 | > 1.0 |
| r-index, median (IQR) | 4.8 (1.6–14.8) | 2.4 (0.4–5.6) | 8.6 (2.9–21.1) | 13.6 (3.4–20.2) | 140.8 | MD–master’s | < 0.0001 | < 0.0001 | > 1.0 |
h-index = Hirsch index, IQR = interquartile range, r-index = revised Hirsch index.