The h-index: A new way of assessing the scientific impact of individual CAM authors

The American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) has been responsible for certification of anesthesiologists since 1938. Selected ABA diplomates provide their expertise to write the ABA’s written and oral examinations and to administer the oral examination required for primary certification. The demographics, administrative and educational duties, and scholarly productivity of ABA volunteers and their dependence on subspecialty certification, transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) credentials, and grant funding are unknown.Observational study.Internet analysis.ABA volunteers who participated in the 2015 primary certification examinations identified from the 2016 issue of ABA News.None.The 2016 issue of ABA News was downloaded from the public ABA website and was used to identify all volunteers who participated in any aspect of the 2015 primary certification process. Each individual’s practice type, faculty rank if applicable, and affiliation were identified using Google with the keyword “anesthesiology.” The practice location, time, and interval after original ABA certification; additional ABA subspecialty certification; the number of publications and citations; publication rate; citations per publication; and the H-, M-, and i-10 indices were obtained using the ABA and Scopus databases. Credentials in TEE were identified for each individual using the National Board of Echocardiography database. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) funding for each volunteer was evaluated using NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools and the FAER alumni databases, respectively. Three hundred ninety-three ABA volunteers were identified and analyzed. Three hundred ten individuals currently hold academic appointments (83.5%), whereas 83 (16.5%) hold private practice or military positions. Sixty-seven volunteers have major administrative roles (eg, dean, chief executive officer, associate or assistant dean, chair, vice chair). Thirty-five individuals are program directors of anesthesiology residencies or fellowships. Volunteers published 10,072 manuscripts that have been cited 194,835 times. Volunteers also received 51 NIH grants and 36 FAER grants. The median H-, M-, and i10-indices of volunteers were 4, 0, and 3, respectively. Scholarly productivity was dependent on academic rank, career duration, additional degrees, and extramural funding, but not on practice location, subspecialty certification, TEE credentials, or sex.These results indicated that ABA volunteers are leaders in anesthesiology with established records of administrative, educational, and scholarly accomplishment.