Publication patterns and the impact of self-citation among minimally invasive surgery fellowships

The h-index is a widely utilized academic metric that measures both productivity and citation impact. The purpose of this study is to define the impact of self-citation among minimally invasive surgery (MIS) fellowship program directors. Through the Fellowship Council's website, all program directors and associate program directors from the 148 MIS fellowship programs were identified. Using the Scopus database, we calculated the number of publications, citations, self-citations, and h-index for each surgeon. A total of 274 surgeons were identified. The mean number±SD of publications, citations, and h-index for the cohort were 60.5 ± 77.2, 1765 ± 4024, and 16.0 ± 15.0, respectively. The self-citation rate for the entire cohort was 3.23%. Excluding self-citations reduces the mean number of citations to 1708 ± 3887 and h-index to 15.8 ± 14.6. The h-index remained unchanged for 77% (210/274) of surgeons. Only 5% (15/274) of surgeons had a change in h-index of greater than one integer and no surgeon had a change greater than three integers. Self-citation is infrequent and has a minimal impact on the academic profile of program directors of MIS fellowships. •The academic profiles of 274 surgeons from 148 MIS fellowships were analyzed.•The self-citation rate for the entire cohort was 3.23%.•The h-index remained unchanged for 77% (210/274) of surgeons.•Only 5% (15/274) of surgeons had a change in h-index of more than one integer.•No surgeon had a change in h-index greater than three integers.