Evaluation of the National Institutes of Health–supported relative citation ratio among American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons fellowship faculty: a new bibliometric measure of scientific influence

Publication metrics are used to evaluate and compare research productivity among academic faculty. However, traditional bibliometrics, such as the Hirsch index and article citation count, are limited by lack of field-normalization and yield inaccurate cross-specialty comparisons. Herein, we evaluate the use of a new field-normalized article-level metric developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), known as the relative citation ratio (RCR), among American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) fellowship faculty and analyzed physician factors associated with RCR values. A retrospective data analysis was performed using the iCite database for all shoulder and elbow surgery fellowship faculty listed on the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) directory as of November 14, 2021. Mean RCR, weighted RCR, and total publication count were compared by sex, career duration, academic rank, and presence of additional degrees. Mean RCR represents the total number of article citations per year of a publication divided by the average number of citations per year received by NIH-funded papers in the same field; mean RCR serves as a measure of overall research impact. A value of 1.0 is the NIH-funded field-normalized standard. The weighted RCR represents the sum of all article-level RCR scores and is a measure of overall research productivity. Student t tests were used for two-group analyses whereas analyses of variance were used for between-group comparisons of 3 or more subgroups. A total of 145 ASES fellowship faculty members from 33 fellowship programs were included in the analysis. Overall, ASES fellowship faculty produced highly impactful research with a median RCR of 1.8 (interquartile range [IQR] 1.4-2.3) and a median weighted RCR of 67.0 (IQR 21.1-212.7). Advanced academic rank and career longevity were associated with increased weighted RCR and total publication count. All subgroups analyzed had an RCR value above 1.0. ASES fellowship faculty are exceptionally productive and produce highly impactful research, as evidenced by the high median RCR value relative to the benchmark NIH RCR value of 1.0. This information can be used as a standard to assess the improvement of grant outcomes, promotion, fellowship education, and continued evaluation of research productivity in the shoulder and elbow community.