TY - JOUR
T1 - The association between scholarly impact and national institutes of health funding in ophthalmology
AU - Svider, Peter F.
AU - Lopez, Santiago A.
AU - Husain, Qasim
AU - Bhagat, Neelakshi
AU - Eloy, Jean Anderson
AU - Langer, Paul D.
PY - 2014/1
Y1 - 2014/1
N2 - Objective To examine whether there is an association between scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, academic rank, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards in academic ophthalmology. Design Retrospective analysis of NIH RePORTER and Scopus databases. Participants Not applicable. Methods Five hundred seventy-three NIH awards to 391 primary investigators (PIs) in ophthalmology departments were examined. Grant recipients were organized by academic rank, obtained from online listings, and h-index, calculated using the Scopus database. Non-NIH-funded faculty from 20 randomly chosen academic ophthalmology departments also were organized by rank and h-index for comparison with their NIH-funded colleagues. Main Outcome Measures Scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, and NIH funding. Results The h-index increased with successive academic rank among non-NIH-funded and NIH-funded faculty, as did NIH funding among the latter group. The NIH-funded faculty had higher scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, than their non-NIH-funded PIs (h = 18.3 vs. 7.8; P < 0.0001), even when considering publications only in the prior 5 years; h-index increased with increasing NIH funding ranges. The h-indices of those holding an MD degree (21.4±1.6 standard error of mean) were not statistically higher than those of PhD holders (17.9±0.6) and those with both an MD and PhD degree (18.1±1.7; P = 0.14). Conclusions The h-index increases with increasing academic rank among NIH-funded and non-NIH-funded faculty in ophthalmology departments. This bibliometric is associated strongly with NIH funding because NIH-funded PIs had higher scholarly impact than their non-NIH-funded colleagues, and increasing impact was noted with higher funding. The h-index is an objective and easily calculable measure that may be valuable as an adjunct in assessing research productivity, a significant factor for academic promotion in academic ophthalmology.
AB - Objective To examine whether there is an association between scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, academic rank, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards in academic ophthalmology. Design Retrospective analysis of NIH RePORTER and Scopus databases. Participants Not applicable. Methods Five hundred seventy-three NIH awards to 391 primary investigators (PIs) in ophthalmology departments were examined. Grant recipients were organized by academic rank, obtained from online listings, and h-index, calculated using the Scopus database. Non-NIH-funded faculty from 20 randomly chosen academic ophthalmology departments also were organized by rank and h-index for comparison with their NIH-funded colleagues. Main Outcome Measures Scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, and NIH funding. Results The h-index increased with successive academic rank among non-NIH-funded and NIH-funded faculty, as did NIH funding among the latter group. The NIH-funded faculty had higher scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, than their non-NIH-funded PIs (h = 18.3 vs. 7.8; P < 0.0001), even when considering publications only in the prior 5 years; h-index increased with increasing NIH funding ranges. The h-indices of those holding an MD degree (21.4±1.6 standard error of mean) were not statistically higher than those of PhD holders (17.9±0.6) and those with both an MD and PhD degree (18.1±1.7; P = 0.14). Conclusions The h-index increases with increasing academic rank among NIH-funded and non-NIH-funded faculty in ophthalmology departments. This bibliometric is associated strongly with NIH funding because NIH-funded PIs had higher scholarly impact than their non-NIH-funded colleagues, and increasing impact was noted with higher funding. The h-index is an objective and easily calculable measure that may be valuable as an adjunct in assessing research productivity, a significant factor for academic promotion in academic ophthalmology.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891635293&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84891635293&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ophtha.2013.08.009
DO - 10.1016/j.ophtha.2013.08.009
M3 - Article
C2 - 24070807
AN - SCOPUS:84891635293
SN - 0161-6420
VL - 121
SP - 423
EP - 428
JO - Ophthalmology
JF - Ophthalmology
IS - 1
ER -