Analysis of Plastic Surgery Publications Among Successfully Matched Integrated Plastic Surgery Residents

Background: Research productivity has become an increasingly important metric in the evaluation of integrated plastic surgery (IPS) residency applicants, particularly following the transition of United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 to pass/fail scoring. Little is known about the content and type of plastic surgery-specific publications among matched applicants. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using publicly available data on matched IPS residents from the 2022 to 2024 application cycles. PubMed-indexed publications were collected and screened for plastic surgery relevance. Each included article was categorized by subspecialty (eg, craniofacial, microsurgery, aesthetics) and article type (original research, systematic review/meta-analysis, narrative review, etc.). First- and second-author roles were also recorded. Results: Among 555 matched residents across 85 programs, 1612 plastic surgery-specific publications were identified. Craniofacial (26.3%), microsurgery (18.5%), and breast (12.6%) were the most common subspecialties, whereas burn (0.7%) and basic sciences (3.7%) were the least represented. Microsurgery publications declined by 35.2% during the study period, whereas aesthetic and gender-affirming care publications increased. Original research comprised 48.4% of all articles, with systematic reviews/meta-analyses rising from 17.0% in 2022 to 31.6% in 2024, an 85.9% increase. Concurrently, narrative reviews, case reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor declined proportionally. Conclusions: Publications related to subspecialties such as craniofacial and microsurgery remained dominant, although a shifting emphasis toward aesthetic and gender-affirming care research was observed. These findings may help guide mentorship, inform applicant strategy, and improve transparency in IPS residency selection.