Academic Productivity in Plastic Surgery: A Comparison of US and International Medical Graduates

Introduction: International medical graduates (IMGs) make up nearly 10% of plastic surgeons in the United States, yet there is little information regarding their relative contributions to the field of academic plastic surgery. This study compares the research productivity and academic rank of IMG academic plastic surgeons and their US medical graduate (USMG) counterparts. Method: A cross-sectional study was performed to include all IMG and USMG full-time academic plastic surgeons in the United States. For each IMG and USMG academic plastic surgeon, bibliometric variables such as the Hirsch index (h-index), i10-index, total number of publications, total number of citations, and greatest number of citations for a single published work were computed. Results: One-hundred and forty-four full-time IMG and 828 USMG academic plastic surgeons met inclusion criteria. There were no significant differences between IMGs and USMGs regarding h-index, i10-index, total number of publications, and total number of citations. Both IMGs and USMGs have higher numbers of publications following graduation from a plastic surgery residency or fellowship as compared to pre-residency or fellowship (37.2 +/- 71.5 versus 8.0 +/- 19.2 and 45.0 +/- 73.1 versus 9.1 +/- 15.5, respectively). Conclusions: IMG and USMG plastic surgeons have nearly equivalent research productivity. Both cohorts continue to have high research outputs following graduation from a plastic surgery residency or fellowship.