Successful grant applications and scholarly impact in neurosurgery

(Press-News.org) Contact information: Jo Ann M. Eliason
jaeliason@thejns.org
434-982-1209
Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group
Successful grant applications and scholarly impact in neurosurgery

Charlottesville, VA (November 12, 2013). Researchers have found a strong relationship between scholarly impact and success in receiving awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) among faculty in academic neurosurgery departments. Faculty members who receive NIH funding have higher research productivity and scholarly impact than those who do not receive funding. Progression through the ranks of assistant, associate, and full professor in neurosurgery departments reflects progressive increases in scholarly impact and, among faculty who receive NIH grant funding, the amount of funding. These findings are presented and discussed in "Assessing National Institutes of Health funding and scholarly impact in neurological surgery. Clinical article," by Peter F. Svider, M.D., Qasim Husain, M.D., Adam J. Folbe, M.D., William T. Couldwell, M.D., Ph.D., James K. Liu, M.D., and Jean Anderson Eloy, M.D., which is published today online, ahead of print, in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Wayne State University School of Medicine, and the University of Utah School of Medicine.

In this paper, the researchers state, "the NIH is the preeminent funding resource in the US, and grants from this organization are considered to be very prestigious." To examine whether there is a relationship between success in obtaining funding from NIH and an awardee's scholarly impact, the researchers used the h-index, an objective metric designed to quantify the value of an individual's scientific publications throughout his or her career.

The researchers searched the NIH RePORTER website for awards to neurosurgery departments made between October 2010 and March 2013. They identified 154 NIH-funded faculty members who were awarded 234 grants. Using the American Medical Association's FREIDA database and a random number generator, the researchers identified 166 neurosurgery faculty members without NIH funding for a comparison group. Faculty members' academic ranks and degrees were collected from their departmental websites. Scholarly expertise was determined by using each individual faculty member's h-index, which was calculated using the Scopus database.

Data on faculty members were first separated into two groups according to whether these persons received NIH funding during the study period. NIH-funded faculty members had a significantly higher mean h-index than unfunded faculty members; in fact, the mean h-index in the funded group was more than twice as high as the mean h-index in the unfunded group (p < 0.0001).

The researchers divided each of these two groups of faculty members into subgroups based on academic rank: assistant, associate, and full professors. They found that the h-index increased with each successive rank in both the funded and unfunded faculty groups (p < 0.05). When they examined how NIH funding related to academic rank in the group of NIH-funded faculty members, the researchers found that mean funding totals also increased with each successive academic rank (p < 0.05).

To determine if there were relationships between faculty members' highest academic degrees and both the h-index and NIH funding, the researchers separated the group of funded faculty members into three subgroups: faculty with the PhD degree, faculty with the MD degree, and faculty with both MD and PhD degrees.

The researchers' analysis showed that the mean h-index was highest among faculty members holding the MD degree alone, second highest among those with both MD and PhD degrees, and lowest in those with the PhD degree alone. The difference in mean h-indices between faculty members holding MDs alone and those holding PhDs alone was significant (p = 0.04).

When the researchers focused on NIH funding, they found that the mean NIH funding was greatest among faculty members holding the MD degree alone, second highest among those with the PhD degree alone, and lowest in those with both MD and PhD degrees. These differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05)

Last, the researchers turned their attention to the relationship between h-indices and monetary values of NIH awards. The researchers found "a trend toward increasing h index with higher NIH funding range" (p < 0.05). This trend was statistically significant.

In summary, the researchers found a strong relationship between scholarly impact (as shown by h-indices) and NIH funding in neurosurgery departments. Faculty with NIH grant funding had greater scholarly impact than unfunded faculty. Higher-ranked faculty had greater scholarly impact and, if funded by NIH, greater amounts of funding. Interestingly, among NIH-funded faculty members, neurosurgeons with MD degrees alone possessed greater scholarly impact and greater amounts of NIH funding than their counterparts with both MD and PhD degrees and their colleagues with PhDs alone.

According to Dr. James K. Liu and Dr. Jean Anderson Eloy, from Rutgers University, the principal co-investigators of the study, "The h-index appears to be a reliable bibliometric to assess one's scholarly impact since this appears to correlate with one's ability to secure NIH funding in the field of academic neurosurgery. This finding is not surprising since the h-index appears to increase with one's academic rank. This metric may be a helpful adjunct in the academic promotion process."



INFORMATION:

Svider PF, Husain Q, Folbe AJ, Couldwell WT, Liu JK, Eloy JA: Assessing National Institutes of Health funding and scholarly impact in neurological surgery. Clinical article. Journal of Neurosurgery, published online, ahead of print, November 12, 2013; DOI: 10.3171/2013.8.JNS13938

Disclosure: The researchers report no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings specified in this paper.

For additional information, please contact:

Ms. Jo Ann M. Eliason, Communications Manager
Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group
One Morton Drive, Suite 200
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Email: jaeliason@thejns.org
Telephone 434-982-1209
Fax 434-924-2702

For 69 years, the Journal of Neurosurgery has been recognized by neurosurgeons and other medical specialists the world over for its authoritative clinical articles, cutting-edge laboratory research papers, renowned case reports, expert technical notes, and more. Each article is rigorously peer reviewed. The Journal of Neurosurgery is published monthly by the JNS Publishing Group, the scholarly journal division of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Other peer-reviewed journals published by the JNS Publishing Group each month include Neurosurgical Focus, the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, and the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. All four journals can be accessed at http://www.thejns.org.

Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 8,300 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public. All active members of the AANS are certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Neurosurgery) of Canada or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, AC. Neurological surgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the entire nervous system including the brain, spinal column, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. For more information, visit http://www.AANS.org.