Surgery and the kings of medical science: Invited Commentary: “Publication activity of chief and senior general/visceral surgeons in German university hospitals — a ten-year analysis”, Böckmann et al.

BACKGROUND: Surgeons are frequently compared in terms of their publication activity to members of other disciplines who publish in journals with naturally higher impact factors. The time intensity of daily clinical duties in surgery is yet not comparable to that of these competitor disciplines. PURPOSE: Here, we aimed to critically comment on ways for improving the academic productivity of university surgerons. CONCLUSIONS: To ensure high-quality science in surgery, it is imperative that surgeons actively ask for and generate the time for high-quality research. This necessitates coordinated and combined efforts of leading university surgeons at the political level and effective presentation of the magnificent studies performed by young and talented university surgeons.