The scope and impact of original clinical research by Hong Kong public healthcare professionals

This study reviewed the landscape of clinical research conducted by public hospital clinicians in Hong Kong. It also explored whether an association exists between academic productivity and clinical performance. This was a territory-wide retrospective study of peer-reviewed original clinical research conducted by clinicians providing acute medical care at non-university public hospitals between 2016 and 2021. Citations were retrieved from the MEDLINE biomedical literature database. Scientometric analysis was performed by collecting journal-level, article-level, and author-level performance indicators. Clinical performance was assessed using crude mortality rate, inpatient hospitalisation duration, and the number of 30-day unplanned readmissions. In total, 3142 peer-reviewed studies were published, of which 29.3% (n=921) were conducted by non-university hospital public healthcare professionals. The most productive specialty was clinical oncology, with 0.56 articles published per clinician. The overall mean journal impact factor and Eigenfactor score were 2.34 ± 3.72 and 0.01 ± 0.07, respectively. At the article level, the mean total number of citations was 6.33 ± 24.17, the mean Field Citation Ratio was 3.37 ± 2.04, and the mean Relative Citation Ratio (RCR) was 0.82 ± 3.32. A significant negative correlation was observed between crude mortality rate and RCR (r=-0.63; P=0.022). A negative correlation was also identified between 30-day readmissions and RCR (r=-0.72; P=0.006). Clinicians in Hong Kong's public healthcare system are research-active and have achieved a substantial degree of influence in their respective fields. Research performance was correlated with hospital crude mortality rates and 30-day unplanned readmissions.