Review of 20 years of vascular surgery research in Australasia: Defining future directions

OBJECTIVES: High-quality research is fundamental to the advancement of surgical practice. Currently, there is no quantitative assessment of the research output of vascular surgeons in Australia and New Zealand. By conducting this bibliometric analysis, we aim to provide an objective representation of the trends in vascular surgery and guide future research. METHODS: A list of all current vascular surgeons in Australia and New Zealand was compiled from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons ‘Find a Surgeon’ website tool and correlated with the Australia and New Zealand Society for Vascular Surgery database. A Scopus search of each surgeon’s author profile over the last 20 years was conducted. RESULTS: In total, 2120 articles were published by 208 Australasian vascular surgeons between 1998 and July 2018, with an overall increase in publications over time. Audits or case series were the most published type of study and only 8% of the publications were of high-level evidence. The most popular topics were thoracoabdominal aortic pathologies (24%), followed by peripheral arterial disease (15%). Chronological analysis illustrates an increasing volume of peripheral arterial disease research over time and there is a clear trend towards more endovascular and hybrid surgery publications. The top 10 (5%) highest publishing authors by h-index account for 41% of all publications and 49% of all citations and are also responsible for producing significantly more high-level evidence research. CONCLUSION: Australasian vascular surgeons have made a significant contribution to medical research. However, the majority of these articles are of low-level evidence. In this time, there has been an increasing number of publications on endovascular and hybrid surgery in keeping with the trend in clinical practice. These areas, as well as research regarding peripheral arterial disease, show potential for high-evidence research in the future.