Demographics and Research Activity Among 2023 Academic Glaucoma Specialists

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To characterize demographics, academic characteristics, and research activity of academic glaucoma specialists.

Methods

Faculty demographic and academic data were recorded for glaucoma specialist faculty from 99 United States ophthalmology residency programs using institutional websites, Doximity, and LinkedIn. H-index was calculated using Scopus. Mean and weighted relative citation ratio (RCR), measuring research impact and productivity, respectively, was determined with the National Institute of Health iCite tool.

Results

Most academic glaucoma specialists were men (0.61), located in the Southern United States (0.316), and in practice for less than or equal to 10 years in 2023 (0.324). Twenty-six percent had additional professional degrees, and 11% completed fellowship training in addition to clinical glaucoma. Assistant professor was the most common academic appointment (0.479), and almost a quarter (0.23) had additional positions. Mean h-index (13.3), mean-RCR (1.76), and weighted-RCR (84.0) were consistent with high research productivity and impact. Gender comparison found that men had significantly higher h-index (p < .001), m-RCR (p = .007), w-RCR (p < .001) as compared to women. H-index (p < .001; p < .001; p < .001), m-RCR (p = .006; p < .001; p < .001), and w-RCR (p < .001; p < .001; p < .001) also increased with career duration, academic position, and additional academic appointments, respectively. Additional training was associated with higher h-index (p = .023) and w-RCR (p = .012), but not m-RCR (p = .699).

Conclusion

Higher research activity is significantly associated with higher departmental positions and additional academic appointments. This illustrates the importance of research contributions for academic promotion. Variations in research activity by gender distribution may therefore affect opportunities for career advancement.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic medicine
• Glaucoma
• H-index
• Relative citation ratio
• Research productivity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Study conceptualization was completed by all authors. Data collection was performed by R. Vought, V. Vought, and E. Shah. Data analysis was performed by R. Vought and V. Vought. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript. A.S. Khouri was responsible for the supervision of the study. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.