Academic Metrics and Demographics and National Institutes of Health Grant Funding in IR.

Abstract

The goal of this study was to evaluate whether there is an association between academic productivity and National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding among academic interventional radiologists. A database containing board-certified U.S. interventional radiologists was previously created for a study evaluating the Hirsch index (h-index) in 2021. The Scopus database was used to add the h-index values for 2023. The NIH RePORTER system was queried to collect any data on NIH grant funding received by each interventional radiologist. Among the 832 interventional radiologists, 37 physicians received NIH grant funding (33 males and 4 females). Bivariate analysis showed that h-index and length of publication range were both positively and significantly correlated with NIH grant funding (coefficients, $731,696 [P < .001] and $2,957,922 [P < .001], respectively). However, no significant differences in NIH grant funding were found across academic ranks (P = .430) or genders (P = .906). h-Index was significantly associated with higher NIH grant funding received by interventional radiologists.