Academically Inclined: Predictors of Early Career Trajectory and Avenues for Early Intervention Among Neurosurgery Trainees

Exploring the Validity and Reliability of Neurosurgery Residency Program Rankings: A Quantitative Analysis

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the relationships between Doximity rankings (Doximity, Inc.) of residency programs and 2 new ranking systems based on publication rates and academic pursuits.

METHODS

We collected data on 550 neurosurgery graduates over 3 years. We analyzed the median number of published manuscripts per resident and the percentage of residents pursuing academic careers and compared them across the Doximity Research Productivity and Reputation Rankings. We used logistic regression to evaluate the relationships among the rankings, publication rates, and academic pursuits.

RESULTS

Neurosurgery residents published a median of 10 manuscripts per person (IQR: 6-17), and 50% (IQR: 33%-67%) of residents in a given program pursued an academic career. The distributions of the median number of published manuscripts across the Doximity Research Productivity Ranking and the Doximity Reputation Ranking tiers differed significantly (all P < 0.001). Similarly, the distribution of the percentage of residents pursuing an academic career across both published Doximity ranking systems' tiers differed significantly (all P = 0.02). Moreover, we found moderate agreement between the 2 Doximity rankings, fair agreement between the publication and the other 3 rankings, and slight agreement between the academic pursuit and the Doximity rankings.

CONCLUSIONS

We introduced 2 new methods to rank residency programs based on the number of graduates pursuing an academic position and the median number of published manuscripts per resident. By taking a comprehensive approach, neurosurgery applicants can ensure that they select a residency program that meets their needs and offers them the best opportunity for success.

A Century of Evolution in Spine Surgery Publications: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Field From 1900 to 2023

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Spine surgery has advanced in concert with our deeper understanding of its elements. Narrowly focused bibliometric analyses have been conducted previously, but never on the entire corpus of the field. Using big data and bibliometrics, we appraised the entire corpus of spine surgery publications to study the evolution of the specialty as a scholarly field since 1900.

METHODS

We queried Web of Science for all contents from 13 major publications dedicated to spine surgery. We next queried by topic [topic = (spine OR spinal OR vertebrae OR vertebral OR intervertebral OR disc OR disk)]; these results were filtered to include articles published by 49 other publications that were manually determined to contain pertinent articles. Articles, along with their metadata, were exported. Statistical and bibliometric analyses were performed using the Bibliometrix R package and various Python packages.

RESULTS

Eighty-five thousand five hundred articles from 62 journals and 134 707 unique authors were identified. The annual growth rate of publications was 2.78%, with a surge after 1980, concurrent with the growth of specialized journals. International coauthorship, absent before 1970, increased exponentially with the formation of influential spine study groups. Reference publication year spectroscopy allowed us to identify 200 articles that comprise the historical roots of modern spine surgery and each of its subdisciplines. We mapped the emergence of new topics and saw a recent lexical evolution toward outcomes- and patient-centric terms. Female and minority coauthorship has increased since 1990, but remains low, and disparities across major publications persist.

CONCLUSION

The field of spine surgery was borne from pioneering individuals who published their findings in a variety of journals. The renaissance of spine surgery has been powered by international collaboration and is increasingly outcomes focused. While spine surgery is gradually becoming more diverse, there is a clear need for further promotion and outreach to under-represented populations.