Academic versus Clinical Productivity of (Elite) United States Transplant Surgeons: Who Publishes More and Who Operates More

In our prior manuscript,1 we were able to retrieve individual clinical outputs using the yearly reports released by the Department of Health of the State of New York, who publishes individual surgical volumes (and also risk-adjusted outcomes) for all the cardiac surgeons practicing in the State.2 In the case of transplant surgeons, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) publish the number of solid organ transplants performed every year at each transplant center across the country.3 By knowing how many transplant surgeons practice at each center, it is possible to calculate an average number of transplants performed per surgeon per center per year. Using online resources (OPTN 2014 report, 2014 report of the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, SCOPUS, and institutional websites), we collected data about the transplant surgeons practicing at those United States centers that performed at least 400 solid organ transplants per year, that were among the five highest-volume centers in the country for each organ (heart, lung, kidney, pancreas, liver, and/or intestine), and/or were affiliated with the top 15 institutions for NIH funding provided to departments of surgery. [...]our analysis of the most prolific transplant surgeons in the United States shows that academic productivity (annual number of new publications) does not correlate with individual clinical volume (number of transplants performed each year), but is positively influenced by one's seniority and, in the case of thoracic surgeons, by the number and the academic strength of one's surgical partners.