Has the growth and development of subspecialization in pediatric urology affected scholarly activity?

Purpose: How has academic productivity changed in a decade in the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Urology? Do academic pursuits slow as section members become older? What is the average number of publications yearly by section members? What percent of research is funded in pediatric urology? Has change occurred with multiple authorships?

Materials And Methods: American Academy of Pediatrics Urology Section active memberships for 1993 and 2003 were obtained. A PubMed study was performed by reviewing all manuscripts published by American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Urology active members for 1991 to 1993 and 2001 to 2003. The data recorded were author, year, PubMed identification number, the number of authors, financial support and journal. Parametric and nonparametric statistics were used for analysis.

Results: In the 1991 to 1993 era there were 245 active members, of whom 145 published a total of 972 manuscripts. There were 604 clinical authorships, 161 basic science articles, 42 reviews and 186 case reports, of which 154 manuscripts received funding. In the 2001 to 2003 era there were 252 members, of whom 177 published a total of 1,152 manuscripts. There were 773 clinical authorships, 140 basic science articles, 107 reviews and 124 case reports, of which 151 manuscripts receiving funding. For members in the 2 periods the mean number of articles decreased by 1.0 from 1 decade to the next (p = 0.002).

Conclusions: Scholarly pursuit of pediatric urology as a subspecialty has remained remarkably steady, averaging about 2 authorships per author yearly in the recent decade. The percent of authorships with funding in pediatric urology has decreased. The number of funded authorships has remained steady. A higher percent of American Academy of Pediatrics members have published manuscripts in the last decade. More manuscripts were published during the last decade study period than during the prior decade. The mix of manuscript types has changed with more reviews, and fewer case reports and basic science authorships in the most recent decade. New members are more likely to publish with a low unpublished percent.