D72. Matriculants Vs. Unmatched: Differences in Research Quality Among Plastic Surgery Applicants With and Without a Home Program

PURPOSE: Integrated plastic surgery (PS) is one of the most competitive specialties, with a match rate of 58.8% in 2024. Our study aims to draw distinctions in research quality between matched and unmatched applicants. METHODS: Applicants to a single PS residency program in 2023 were studied. Residency webpages were queried to determine match status (M, UM) and home program status (HP, NHP). For each individual, PubMed was indexed for peer-reviewed publications through September 2022. Variables included number of PS-related publications, first-author publications, article type, and h-index. RESULTS: Among 277 applicants meeting inclusion criteria, 208 successfully matriculated in 2023. The sample included 139 M-HP, 44 M-NHP, 48 U-HP, and 46 U-NHP applicants. Most applicants had a home PS program (M: 76%; U: 51%). Matched applicants were 3.03 times more likely to have a home program (95% CI 1.79-5.13) and 2.03 times more likely to have completed a research fellowship (95% CI 1.15-5.36). There were no significant differences in the average number of PubMed-indexed publications, PS-related publications, first-author publications, or h-index. M-HP applicants had significantly more commentary publications than U-HP (p=0.003) and U-NHP (p=0.03) applicants. M-HP applicants also published in journals with higher impact factors than unmatched applicants, though not significantly. CONCLUSION: Matched applicants demonstrated minimal differences in the number of overall publications and PS-related publications, conveying overall research quality is not significantly different between cohorts.