Scholarly productivity during gynecologic oncology fellowship: A cross-sectional survey of graduates from 2020 to 2024

Objectives

To characterize the scholarly accomplishments and attitudes regarding scholarly productivity among recent gynecologic oncology (GYO) fellowship graduates and identify factors which may influence academic productivity.

Methods

A 21-item web-based survey was distributed to individuals who had graduated from GYO fellowship within the past five years (2020–2024). Data on demographics, fellowship program characteristics, and scholarly accomplishments were collected. Descriptive statistics and univariate logistic regression were performed.

Results

115 individuals participated in the survey yielding a response rate of 31.2 %. The median number (min, max) of first-author published manuscripts was 4 (0, 18), conference posters was 4 (0, 30), and oral plenaries was 1 (0, 10). Graduates from programs with larger GYO clinical divisions were more likely to publish 4 or more first-author manuscripts compared to those from smaller divisions (OR 2.50; 95 % CI 1.09–5.74). The factors most frequently cited as supporting scholarly productivity were positive mentorship (65.4 %), access to existing databases (33.7 %), and timing of research year(s) (32.7 %). Reported barriers included clinical volume (63.5 %), inadequate technical support (36.5 %), and lack of mentorship (29.8 %). Fellows who had a clinical year prior to their dedicated research time were more likely to view timing of their research year(s) as contributory to their scholarly productivity (OR 2.89; 95 % CI 1.19–7.02).

Conclusions

This study provides valuable descriptive data on the scholarly accomplishments of recent GYO fellows. Clinical division size and timing of research year(s) seem to positively impact scholarly productivity.