OBJECT: Various bibliometric indices are now commonly used to assess academic 
productivity in medicine. Some evidence suggests that these measures are 
specific to subspecialty areas. The authors' goal was to measure the h index of 
academic pediatric neurosurgeons and compare it with previously reported results 
for academic neurosurgeons in general.
METHODS: Programs with an Accreditation Council for Pediatric Neurosurgery 
Fellowships-approved fellowship were identified, and the h and g indices of each 
of their surgeons were calculated. These were correlated with academic rank and 
compared with published literature on academic neurosurgical departments.
RESULTS: Seventy-two pediatric neurosurgeons had a mean h index of 16.6 and a 
mean g index of 29.5. Both indices increased with progressive academic rank. The 
rank-specific mean index for academic pediatric neurosurgeons was similar to 
that of neurosurgeons from academic departments in general.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the authors conclude that the h index metric is a 
reasonable measure of academic productivity in the pediatric neurosurgery arena 
that provides a robust measure of an individual's contribution to the pediatric 
neurosurgery literature. Like its counterpart in neurosurgery in general, the h 
index for pediatric neurosurgeons correlates with institutional rank. The h 
index calculation also reveals the productivity of the pediatric neurosurgeons 
to be on par with the productivity of neurosurgeons in general.