Background: More than 75% of respondents to an Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma survey felt that barriers to research had increased and that acute care surgeon (ACS) academic productivity had decreased. Recent data confirm this impression and show lower academic productivity of junior ACS faculty compared with peers in other general surgical fields. The purpose of this study was to determine if early career acute care surgery research scholarships are associated with improved ACS academic productivity.
Methods: Faculty data at the Top 55 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded departments of surgery (Top 55) were obtained using SCOPUS, NIH, department, and professional society databases. Academic productivity was measured using total publications, citations, and the Hirsch index. Scholarship recipients from the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma were identified.
Results: A total of 4,101 surgical faculty (8.3% ACS) who belong to the Top 55 NIH-funded departments of surgery and 85 scholarship recipients were identified. After merging, 34 scholarship recipients (40%) were current faculty at a Top 55 NIH-funded department of surgery, and 24 of those (71%) were ACS faculty. Scholarship recipients had higher median total publications compared with nonrecipients at assistant and associate ranks but not at full professor rank. For all ranks, scholarship recipients were more likely to have NIH funding compared with nonrecipients (33% vs. 11%, p < 0.05). On multivariable analysis, only NIH funding was associated with increased total publications, with an average of 89 more publications over a career (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Research scholarships granted by acute care surgery professional organizations remain largely among ACS faculty in Top 55 NIH-funded departments of surgery. Among junior ACS faculty, recipients are associated with increased academic productivity and NIH funding. To fill the academic productivity gap among junior ACSs, professional organizations should consider increasing research funding scholarships for promising investigators.