The Effect of COVID-19 on Research Productivity among Matched Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Applicants

Background: Ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery (OPRS) is one of the most competitive ophthalmology subspecialities, and scholarly productivity has been regarded as an important criterion for fellowship matching. Purpose: To calculate changes in research productivity among matched OPRS fellowship candidates amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We identified U.S. OPRS fellows who started training from 2020 through 2022 via publicly available fellowship rosters. For each, we extracted gender, training institution, and publication records from PubMed and ResearchGate. We considered peer-reviewed publications before fellowship status. Linear regression analyses were performed to determine correlations between productivity and post-fellowship publication output. Results: Of 75 fellows included, the average number of total publications before fellowship was 5.5 ± 4.8, with 2.6 ± 2.5 first-authored and 4.6 ± 4.6 ophthalmology-related publications. There were significantly more total and ophthalmology-related publications in the 2021 cohort (those who started fellowship in 2021) than in the 2022 cohort. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the total number of publications, total number of first-author publications, and total number of publications in ophthalmology before fellowship were all independent predictors of increased publication output during the first fellowship year (p < 0.05). No significant relationship was found between medical school and residency program rankings. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic had a quantifiable effect on the research productivity of matched OPRS fellowship applicants, with the 2022 class being the most productive. The results of this study may be indicative of pandemic-related shifts in clinical and academic duties as well as a long-term increasing competitiveness of applicants.