Academic Productivity Is Positively Correlated With Nonresearch Industry Earnings Across all Subspecialties Among Faculty Physicians Affiliated With Orthopaedic Surgery Fellowship Programs in the United States: A Retrospective Analysis.

Abstract

Physician-industry transparency was solidified through the Physician Payments Sunshine Act in 2010, allowing greater examination. To date, little data exist regarding the association between academic productivity and industry earnings, especially across faculty affiliated with orthopaedic surgery fellowship subspecialities. This study examines the association of both individual faculty and program academic productivity on nonresearch lifetime industry earnings across all orthopaedic surgery subspecialty fellowship programs in the United States to understand potential relationships between academic productivity and industry earnings. This retrospective study analyzes the potential association between academic productivity (H-index on Scopus) and nonresearch lifetime industry earnings (recorded from Open Payments Database in 2023 to 2024) across faculty at all nine major orthopaedic subspecialties in the United States. This analysis included 568 orthopaedic fellowship programs with 3,040 individual faculty physicians. Median individual physician lifetime earnings (n = 3,040) were $15,871.03 (mean: $392,019.25 ± $1,818,339.97; minimum to maximum: $0.00 to 52,150,069.08), and the median individual physician H-index was 11 (mean: 16.48 ± 16.29; minimum to maximum: 0 to 129). Median combined physician H-index per fellowship (n = 568 fellowships) was 67.5 (mean: 88.25 ± 81.89; minimum to maximum: 0 to 689), and median combined physician lifetime earnings was $375,081.18 (mean: $2,098,131.2 ± $5,282,741.17; minimum to maximum: $127.44 to $56,200,489.37). A weak positive correlation was observed between academic productivity and industry earnings at the individual level ( P < 0.001; Spearman rho: 0.345) with a moderate positive correlation at the fellowship level ( P < 0.001; Spearman rho: 0.467). The top 10% of faculty at orthopaedic surgery fellowships accounted for 81.75% of the nonresearch industry earnings, whereas the top 1% captured 34.86% of industry earnings. No notable difference was found in total nonresearch lifetime earnings ( P = 0.156) or H-index per fellowship ( P = 0.065) when stratified by geographic region of the fellowship program. There is a positive correlation between academic productivity and nonresearch industry lifetime earnings at both individual faculty and program levels across all subspecialties in United States orthopaedic surgery fellowships. However, regional differences among programs are not associated with academic productivity or industry earnings.