Scholarly activity is low among directors of U.S. academic radiology programs, according to findings published September 26 in Academic Radiology.
The top 10th percentile (by h-index) of authors contributed roughly half of overall publications and nearly two-thirds of all citations, wrote a team led by Ajay Malhotra, MD, from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.
“The trends point towards lower scholarly productivity over time,” the Malhotra team wrote. “Academic radiology leadership may need to address this as the future course is charted.”
Directors of radiology residency programs help select the best candidates from applicants. They also have a role in establishing and maintaining an educational and research-friendly culture within the program.
Directors and faculty must show scholarly activity within a five-year interval via research in basic science, education, translational science, patient care, or population health. The Hirsch index (h-index) is a metric of academic productivity and citation influence; tracking it can help identify mentors to guide successful postgraduate trainees, the researchers noted.
Malhotra and colleagues analyzed national trends in scholarly productivity of radiology residency program directors in the U.S. using information from 195 diagnostic radiology residency program directors who took part in the 2024 National Resident Matching Program. Data came from the American Medical Association (AMA) Residency and Fellowship Database. The team gathered academic productivity information about each program director from their publicly available Scopus or PubMed profiles, reporting that the program directors collectively had a median h-index of four.
Of the total directors, 20 made up the top 10th percentile of published authors by h-index. These authors contributed 40% of all publications (n = 1,620/4,100) and 65% of all citations (n = 61,105/94,577).
The team also found that 18% (n = 35/195) of participating directors had one or no publication and another 8% had a co-author publication, but no first/last author publication. In the previous five years, 11 out of 136 program directors on Scopus had no publication, and 31 directors had no first/last author publication.
Finally, in the previous five years, program directors with less than 20 years since graduation had significantly fewer publications (median, three) compared to directors with more than 20 years since graduation (median 14, p <0.001).
The authors suggested that the results point toward program directors being selected to focus on administrative responsibilities and teaching rather than scholarly activity. They added that the study “hopefully stirs a discussion for improvement.”
“Several factors may go into selection of individuals for administrative positions, which may include institutional longevity, ready availability, a willingness not to rock the boat, or to accept inadequate resources,” the authors wrote.
They also noted that the narrowing salary gap between academic and nonacademic practices in radiology combined with more focus on clinical output “raises concerns about preserving and growing the academic mission.”
Read the full study here.
