Session Information
Date: Thursday, November 14, 2019
Session Title: Research Spotlight: Practice Management and Leadership
Session Time: 12:30pm-1:15pm
Location: Research Hub - Live Theater
Disclosures: Scott J. Pfirrman, MBA: Nothing to disclose
Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of self-citation among directors of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) residency and fellowship programs. The Hirsch Index (h-index) is a metric that attempts to measure both the academic productivity and citation impact of a scholar’s publications. This index is based upon the scholar’s most frequently cited papers and the number of citations received in other publications.
Design: Retrospective study.
Setting: Scopus abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.
Participants: Program directors were identified through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education website. A total of 169 program directors were identified. Residency program directors were included along with fellowship program directors from four distinct sub-specialties.
Interventions: not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures: Using the Scopus database, we calculated the number of publications, citations, self-citations, and h-index for each physiatry program director.
Results: The mean number ± SD of publications, citations, and h-index for the cohort were 16.7 ± 29.5, 348 ± 753, and 5.7 ± 6.7, respectively. The pooled self-citation rate for the entire cohort was 3.87%. Excluding self-citations reduces the mean number of citations to 335 ± 716 and the h-index to 5.6 ± 6.5. The h-index remained unchanged for 90% of physiatry program directors (152/169). When self-citation was excluded, less than 2% of physiatry program directors (3/169) had a change in h-index of greater than one integer, and there were no changes of greater than two integers. There was no difference in mean self-citation rate among residency program directors or among any of the sub-specialty program directors. Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) fellowship program directors had significantly higher mean number of publications (28, P=.04), mean number of citations (672, P=.03), and h-index (9.2, P<.01).
Conclusions: Self-citation is infrequent among PM&R residency and fellowship program directors. SCI program directors have more robust academic profiles when compared to other physiatry sub-specialties.
Level of Evidence: Level III
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Pfirrman SJ, Yheulon CG, Parziale JR. The Hirsch Index and Self-citation in Academic Physiatry [abstract]. PM R. 2019; 11(S2)(suppl 2). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/the-hirsch-index-and-self-citation-in-academic-physiatry/. Accessed May 28, 2025.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2019
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/the-hirsch-index-and-self-citation-in-academic-physiatry/