Bibliographic characteristics of plastic surgeons in The Netherlands: a 55-year survey

Globalization of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: A Continent, Country, and State-Level Analysis of Publications

Background:

Over the past decade, there has been a worldwide increase in plastic and reconstructive surgery research as well as increased interest in global collaboration. However, little is known about who is contributing to this global expansion or the trends of individual countries. The aim of our study was to analyze the output of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (PRS) over a decade to elucidate trends in the plastic surgery field.

Methods:

The country of origin for all first authors of articles published by PRS from 2010 to 2019 were determined and date extracted using PubMed2XL. The change in frequency of publications over the decade by country, continental contributions, as well as state-level analysis within the United States were analyzed.

Results:

From 2010 to 2019, there were a total number of 8680 publications with an increase in total articles from 747 to 1049 per year. 54 countries contributed over the decade, with the United States producing the most followed by Italy, China, Canada, and the UK. The top producing states were Texas, New York, California, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

Conclusions:

The last decade (2010–2019) saw a large international increase in research, not only with the total number of publications, but also in the diversity of originating country. Our work shows a shift away from a US-focused journal to incorporate more work from our international colleagues, as research is conducted in centers across the globe.

Publication Rates and Author Characteristics From 3 Plastic Surgery Journals in 2006 and 2016

BACKGROUND

Areas of surgical care in which, traditionally, plastic surgeons were exclusively involved are now routinely offered by other surgical specialists. Whether this shift in clinical responsibilities influenced publication rates of plastic surgeons remains unknown. The current article investigates the proportion of contributions in plastic surgery journals originating from authors with a plastic surgery background as well as publication rates and author demographics.

METHODS

A cross-sectional sample study of every publication originating from Annals of Plastic Surgery, Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery was performed for 2006 and 2016. Data about the articles' methodological design and branch of plastic surgery as well as authors' country of origin, educational degree and specialty training were analyzed.

RESULTS

From 1721 publications included, head and neck reconstruction was the branch of plastic surgery with the highest number of publications at 18% and most articles (30%) were retrospective cohort studies. From 3381 authors analyzed, a significant proportion originated from United States (34%). More than 85% of authors were physicians as opposed to other health care professionals. The specialty with the highest representation was plastic surgery at 72%, but the proportion decreased in all 3 journals by a mean rate of 3.8% in 2016.

CONCLUSIONS

A slight decrease in publication rates from plastic surgeons occurred in Annals of Plastic Surgery, Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery from 2006 to 2016. Publications rates and author characteristics in plastic surgery journals provide valuable insight on plastic surgeons' contribution to contemporary scientific literature.

Scientific output of Dutch medical students

BACKGROUND

In medical curricula, considerable effort is put into scientific education and research training. The output of these efforts, however, is not known.

AIM

To assess the number of students who published at least one scientific paper during the course of their medical studies.

METHODS

Names and initials of all students who received their medical degree in 2006 or 2007 in one of the six participating university medical centers in the Netherlands were searched in the Web of Science database using a well-validated algorithm.

RESULTS

Of the 2973 students, 14.5% had published at least one scientific paper during the last 3 years of their medical studies. These papers were of good quality, as the average number of citations per paper is above the average for papers published in their field.

CONCLUSION

Based on the results of our survey, we conclude that medical students in the Netherlands are productively involved in research during their studies. Due to publication delay, the true number of papers is likely to be higher than we counted, but the bibliometric index chosen gives a robust estimate of the effect on the output of the scientific climate of a medical school. Using such an index on a larger scale may stimulate medical faculties to recognize and cultivate academic talent among their students.