Patent productivity among academic plastic surgeons in the United States over 20 years

Background: Innovation is a cornerstone of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Patents are a way to measure innovation. The objective of this study was to quantify and understand patent productivity in the career of academic plastic surgeons.

Methods: Faculty affiliated with the United States academic medical centers with integrated plastic surgery residencies were searched by name on Google Patents from inception through April 2024. The included patents were active or pending and related to a fundamental clinical or basic science area of plastic surgery.

Results: Among the 977 academic plastic surgeons across 89 programs, 191 active or pending patents were published by 68 (7.0%) surgeons. The average number of patents per inventor was 2.8 (4.3). The highest number of active or pending patents attributed to a surgeon-inventor was 25. Approximately 50% (n = 91) of the patents were held by four universities. Time since initial board certification correlated poorly with the number of patents produced (R² = 0.17, P > 0.1). Being in a program with more affiliated patents correlated with the presence of more patent-producers (r_s = 0.66; P < 0.001). There was no indication that higher percent of revenue distribution to an inventor increased the patent productivity (r_s = 0.002; P > 0.05).

Conclusions: Plastic surgery remains a field driving innovation. Plastic surgeons at all career stages hold patents, highlighting the possibility for early patent pursuit. Patent productivity was concentrated in several programs in the US, suggesting certain centers of innovations exist and may be worthy of further study.