Medical Degree Disparity Among Authors of Original Research in Pediatric Journals

Introduction: Research and scholarly output are integral parts of residency training for both residents and faculty. With the transition to a single accreditation system, scholarly activity and output of osteopathic physicians have garnered significant interest. Previous research has shown that osteopathic physicians in emergency medicine and obstetrics and gynecology infrequently publish original research in high impact journals. Objective: To determine whether there is a disparity between osteopathic and allopathic physicians among authors who publish original research manuscripts in three high-impact pediatric journals. Methods: The medical degree designation of the first and senior author (last author) and any advanced degree either author may have obtained were retrieved from the Journal of Pediatrics (J Pediatr), Pediatrics, and JAMA Pediatrics (JAMA Pediatr) for the years 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015. Data was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and linear regression. Results: In total, 2232 manuscripts and 4296 authors were reviewed with 0.58% (25/4296) of all authors being osteopathic physicians. A total of 0.81% (18/2232) of first authors and 0.34% (7/2064) of senior authors were osteopathic physicians. For those with a dual degree, a total of 0.64% (5/777) of first and 0.33% (3/904) of senior authors were osteopathic physicians. No statistical trend could be established for increased first (p=0.24), senior (p=0.16), dual degree first (p=0.08) or dual degree senior (p=0.06) osteopathic physician authorship. Likewise, no statistical trend for increased authorship could be established for any Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) authorship role in the three journals over the time period studied. Conclusion: Very few osteopathic physicians have served as either the first or senior author in published original research manuscripts for the Journal of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, or JAMA Pediatrics for the years studied. Also, no statistical trend could be established for increased osteopathic physician publication over the same years.