Academic inertia: Examining changes of scholarly output over time among academic minimally invasive surgeons.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study is to assess how the Hirsch Index (h-index) and other academic metrics change over time for academic minimally invasive surgeons (MIS). METHODS: Through the Fellowship Council's website, MIS program-directors and associate program-directors were identified in 2017 and again in 2018. Using the Scopus database, the number of publications, citations, self-citations, and h-indices were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 222 surgeons were included. The median increase of publications, citations, and h-index were 4, 134, and 1, respectively. 75% of surgeons (166/222) saw their h-index increase. In 2017, 26% of surgeons (57/222) had an increase of their h-index due to self-citation. One-year later, 35% of those surgeons (20/57) no longer demonstrated that change. CONCLUSION: Self-citation remains infrequent within MIS. The h-index of most surgeons will increase over one-year. Many surgeons demonstrating an increase in h-index due to self-citation will see that change eliminated over time.