Abstract
Objective measures of research performance are necessary to facilitate academic advancement of trainee physicians. In this cross-sectional study, all anaesthetists (n = 98) in higher specialist training in Ireland were surveyed to determine bibliometrics of their scientific publications and individual and institutional characteristics that can influence research productivity. For trainees with publications, the median (range) h-index was 1 (0–4). There was a positive correlation between participation in a formal research program and increased research productivity using mean citations per publication (r 2 = 0.26, P = 0.006) and h-index (r 2 = 0.26, P = 0.006). There was a positive correlation between formal mentorship and mean citations per publication (r 2 = 0.15, P = 0.04) and h-index (r 2 = 0.17, P = 0.03).
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Conflict of interest
None.
Ethics approval
Ethical approval for this study (ECM 4 (o) 11/01/11) was provided by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Cork Teaching Hospitals, Cork, Ireland (Chairperson Dr Michael Hyland) on 14th December 2010.
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Appendix A
Appendix A
Study questionnaire (administered by SurveyMonkey™)- version 02.11.2010.
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1.
Participant demographics:
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i. Your gender: male/female
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ii. What year did you graduate from medical school?
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iii. What is your current training point (e.g. year 1, year 1.5) on the National Specialist Training Scheme in Anaesthesia?
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2.
Individual and institutional characteristics influencing research productivity:
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i. Have you participated in a formal research program? Yes/No
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ii. Have you received formal training in the conduct of research in medicine? Yes/No
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iii. Have you ever been formally assigned a senior colleague to mentor your research? Yes/No
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iv. Is informal mentoring and support from senior colleagues available in your area(s) of research interest?
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(1 strongly agree, 2 somewhat agree, 3 neither agree nor disagree, 4 somewhat disagree, and 5 strongly disagree).
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v. Would you describe yourself as being internally driven to conduct research?
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(1 strongly agree, 2 somewhat agree, 3 neither agree nor disagree, 4 somewhat disagree, and 5 strongly disagree).
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vi. Are you “up-to-date” on the current literature in your research area(s)?
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(1 strongly agree, 2 somewhat agree, 3 neither agree nor disagree, 4 somewhat disagree, and 5 strongly disagree).
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vii. On average, how many hours each week are you involved in research activity?
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viii. Are there any other factors which you think strongly influence your research performance?
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3.
Scientific publication information:
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i. What variations of your name you have used for authorship of scientific publications?
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ii. What institutional affiliations have you used for publishing your research output?
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iii. In which year was your first scientific publication?
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iv. On how many scientific papers in peer-review journals have you been credited an authorship?
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4.
Contact email address for individual and aggregated results:
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Please enter your email address here if you would like to receive a copy of your individual citation profile (Web of Science®), and a summary profile of the bibliometric characteristics of the cohort when the study is completed.
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O’Leary, J.D., O’Sullivan, O. Research productivity among trainee anaesthetists in Ireland: a cross-sectional study. Scientometrics 93, 431–438 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-012-0684-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-012-0684-y