From Contributors to First Authors: Medical Student Authorship in Plastic Surgery, 2010–2025
Georgios Karamitros, Georgios Bouloukakis, Gregory A. Lamaris, Scott D. Lifchez, Wesley P. Thayer, Galen Perdikis, William C. LineaweaverBackground:
Medical student research productivity has become an increasingly visible signal in plastic surgery residency selection, yet the extent to which students have transitioned from contributors to first authors within the specialty literature remains unclear. We evaluated temporal trends, authorship structure, and institutional concentration of medical student authorship in plastic surgery publications.
Methods:
We performed a cross-sectional analysis of U.S.-affiliated articles published in
Results:
Among 13,723 eligible publications, 4227 (30.8%) included at least one medical student author and 2135 (15.6%) were first-authored by a medical student. Medical student first authorship increased from 58 publications in 2010 (9.5%) to 209 in 2025 (20.9%), peaking at 24.3% in 2022. Mean annual first-author output increased by 143% between the early and late eras (77.8 versus 189.1 publications/year). Segmented regression demonstrated significant post-2018 slope acceleration (
Conclusions:
Medical student authorship in plastic surgery has undergone marked temporal acceleration, with increasing first-author leadership embedded within larger collaborative teams. Student first authorship may signal merit, but also reflects access to mentorship, infrastructure, and institutional research opportunity.