Background Gap years following medical school graduation have become more common, but research into their tangible career benefit is lacking. Examining the impact of gap years on resident scholarly productivity in ophthalmology may provide insight generalizable to all specialties.

Objective To evaluate whether a gap year following medical school graduation significantly predicts scholarly productivity during ophthalmology residency.

Methods In December 2021, residents were recorded from 110 publicly available American ophthalmology residency program webpages. They were included if educational history was listed on publicly accessible academic and social media profiles. Residents were then stratified into gap year and nongap year cohorts. Publication data were recorded from Scopus and PubMed. Pearson's chi-square, independent sample t-tests, and multivariable regression were performed.

Results A total of 1,206 residents were analyzed, with 1,036 (85.9%) residents taking no gap year and 170 (14.1%) residents with at least one gap year. Gap year residents were predicted to have increase in the likelihoods of publishing at least one, two, or five total articles during residency, in addition to at least one article in a high-impact journal. There was no significant relationship between gap years and publications with senior authors affiliated with either the resident's medical school or residency program.

Conclusion Residents taking gap years following graduation may publish more during residency, but these publications are not associated with senior authors at their institutions. Future investigations should continue to evaluate the significance of gap years in medical education.

A poster presentation took place from April 23rd to 27th, during the ARVO 2023 conference in New Orleans, LA.

Received: 18 February 2023

Accepted: 10 August 2023

Article published online:
11 September 2023

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