Publication Productivity Using H-Index to Evaluate Academic Success Among Fellowship-Trained Mohs Surgeons

BACKGROUND The h-index is a measure of research achievement using not only the number of publications of an individual, but also the impact of the publications. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to evaluate the h-indices of Mohs surgeons within a variety of practice settings. MATERIALS AND METHODS A list of all American College of Mohs Society (ACMS) members with corresponding fellowships years were collected using the ACMS membership directory. Publicly available demographic information was obtained including fellowship year, practice setting, PhD status, practice location (region), total number of publications, and h-index. Descriptive statistics were calculated to compare h-indices among the demographic data. RESULTS A total of 1150 ACMS members were included. The Practice setting distribution was as follows: 10.6% academic, 85.7% private practice, and 3.7% combined. H-index differed significantly based on practice setting (p < .001), with higher h-indices in academic and combined settings compared with the private practice setting. Subanalysis among academic Mohs surgeons revealed higher mean h-indices among professors (23.9) > associate professors (10.6) > assistant professors (8.6) > clinical instructors (5) (p < .001). CONCLUSION H-indices were highest among Mohs surgeons in the academic setting with increasing values correlating with higher academic rank and time since fellowship completion.