The scope and impact of original clinical research by Hong Kong public healthcare professionals.

Introduction: This study reviewed the landscape of clinical research conducted by public hospital clinicians in Hong Kong. It also explored whether an association exists between academic productivity and clinical performance.

Methods: This was a territory-wide retrospective study of peer-reviewed original clinical research conducted by clinicians providing acute medical care at non-university public hospitals between 2016 and 2021. Citations were retrieved from the MEDLINE biomedical literature database. Scientometric analysis was performed by collecting journal-level, article-level, and author-level performance indicators. Clinical performance was assessed using crude mortality rate, inpatient hospitalisation duration, and the number of 30-day unplanned readmissions.

Results: In total, 3142 peer-reviewed studies were published, of which 29.3% (n=921) were conducted by non-university hospital public healthcare professionals. The most productive specialty was clinical oncology, with 0.56 articles published per clinician. The overall mean journal impact factor and Eigenfactor score were 2.34 ± 3.72 and 0.01 ± 0.07, respectively. At the article level, the mean total number of citations was 6.33 ± 24.17, the mean Field Citation Ratio was 3.37 ± 2.04, and the mean Relative Citation Ratio (RCR) was 0.82 ± 3.32. A significant negative correlation was observed between crude mortality rate and RCR (r=-0.63; P=0.022). A negative correlation was also identified between 30-day readmissions and RCR (r=-0.72; P=0.006).

Conclusion: Clinicians in Hong Kong's public healthcare system are research-active and have achieved a substantial degree of influence in their respective fields. Research performance was correlated with hospital crude mortality rates and 30-day unplanned readmissions.