Research Productivity Variation in Applicants Who Matched into Home Orthopaedic Surgery Programs

Authors

Frances Akwuole, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, ILFollow
Cole Christenson, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Freddy Jacome, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
James MacLeod, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Omar Shaikh, Western Michigan University Homer Stryker School of Medicine, Kalamazoo, MI
Michael W. Pullen, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, Chicago,
Avani Chopra, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Owen Lema, University of Illinois, Chicago College of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Justin Lee, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Sia Cho, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Annemarie K. Leonard, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha NEFollow
Alfonso Mejia, University of Illinois, Chicago College of Medicine, Chicago, IL

Document Type

Original Report

Disciplines

Orthopedics | Other Education | Surgery

Abstract

Background. Research output among orthopaedic surgery applicants remains an important factor in the orthopaedic surgery residency selection process. However, there is limited literature comparing objective measures such as research productivity across different types of orthopaedic surgery applicants. We aim to determine if students who match at their home programs have significantly different research productivity and, secondarily, Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) membership rates, compared to those who match at external programs.

Methods. This study was conducted in April 2024. A list of orthopaedic surgery residents was acquired from publicly available websites using a Python script. Programs were stratified into four geographic regions. Comparisons were made using Welch’s t-test, and statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results. A total of 3,034 residents from 114 residency programs were identified; 2,247 were external residents and 787 were internal. The average number of total publications was 4.33 and 3.79 for external residents and internal residents, respectively (p = 0.08). External residents had an average number of 1.23 first-author publications, and internal residents had 0.91 (p = 0.01). The largest difference in residents’ average number of total and first-author publications was identified in the northeast region (6.29, 4.76, p = 0.02), (1.75, 1.15, p = 0.01).

Conclusion. Applicants who matched at their home institution had, on average, 12.5% fewer total and 26% fewer first-author publications compared to those who matched externally. The largest noted difference in total and first-authorship publications was from residents who matched in the Northeast.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.32873/unmc.dc.gmerj.7.2.008

Keywords

Orthopaedic residency, student match statistics, matched student publications, matched student research, home program match, medical student publications

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Akwuole, F., Christenson, C., Jacome, F., MacLeod, J., Shaikh, O., Pullen, M. W., Chopra, A., Lema, O., Lee, J., Cho, S., Leonard, A. K., , Mejia, A. Research Productivity Variation in Applicants Who Matched into Home Orthopaedic Surgery Programs. Graduate Medical Education Research Journal. 2025 Dec 31; 7(2).
https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/gmerj/vol7/iss2/8