Publication Trends and Their Relationship With Academic Success Among Dermatology Residents: Cross-sectional Analysis

BACKGROUND: Involvement in scholarly activities is considered to be one of the foundational pillars of medical education. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate publication rates before, during, and after residency to determine whether research productivity throughout medical training correlates with future academic success and research involvement. METHODS: We successfully identified a list of 296 graduates from 25 US dermatology residency programs from the years 2013-2015. The publication history for each graduate was compiled using Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. The Pearson correlation test and linear regression were used to assess the relationship between research productivity and continued academic success after residency graduation. RESULTS: Before residency, graduates published a mean of 1.9 (SD 3.5) total publications and a mean of 0.88 (SD 1.5) first-author publications. During residency, graduates published a mean of 2.7 (SD 3.6) total publications and a mean of 1.39 (SD 2.0) first-author publications. Graduates who pursued a fellowship had more total publications (t(294)=−4.0; P<.001), more first-author publications (t(294)=−3.9; P<.001), and a higher h-index (t(294)=−3.8; P=.002). Graduates who chose to pursue careers in academic medicine had more mean total publications (t(294)=−7.5; P<.001), more first-author publications (t(294)=−5.9; P<.001), and a higher mean h-index (t(294)=−6.9; P<.001). Graduates with one or more first-author publications before residency were 1.3 times more likely to pursue a career in academic medicine (adjusted odds ratio 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.5). Graduates who pursued a fellowship were also 1.9 times more likely to pursue a career in academic medicine (adjusted odds ratio 1.9, 95% CI 1.2-3.2). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that research productivity before and during residency training are potential markers for continued academic success and research involvement after completing dermatology residency training.