Academic Impact of Hand Surgery Units Across the United Kingdom: A Bibliometric Analysis

Quantifying the academic impact of hand surgery units can serve as a useful parameter for clinicians interested in academia when applying for fellowships or consultant posts. The aim of this study is to measure and rank the academic impact of hand surgery units across the United Kingdom (UK) using bibliometric analysis. UK hand surgery units were identified from the British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) website and additional manual internet searches. Predefined search strings were used to identify papers about or relating to hand surgery. Using the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science bibliometric analysis tool, cumulative (1900-2021), 10-year (2011-2021), and 3-year (2018-2021) research output data was collected from UK hand surgery units and ranked using the following parameters: number of papers (Np), number of citations (Nc), and the h-index (a metric evaluating the cumulative impact of academic output). The top three units according to the 10-year h-index were The Pulvertaft Hand Centre (15), John Radcliffe Hospital (10), and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (10). The units with the greatest number of papers published in the last 10 years were the Pulvertaft Hand Centre (70), Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals (45), and Broomfield Hospital (44). The units with the single most cited papers were Wrightington Hospital (189), the Pulvertaft Hand Centre (152), and St John’s Hospital & Royal Hospital for Sick Children (152). The academic impact of hand surgery units varies greatly across the UK. Hand surgery units with a historically strong academic record have generally maintained a similar high output of research over the last decade. The 10-year h-index of hand surgery units can be particularly useful for hand surgeons with a strong academic interest.