We reviewed the number of vascular publications listed in PubMed from 2001 to 2009 for US program directors in vascular surgery and suggest that this can be used as a benchmark.

PubMed listed 3284 citations published during this time period. The average number of citations in PubMed per program director was 3.68 per year. The top third produced 67% of the publications. Journal of Vascular Surgery publications made up 37%. No statistical differences could be ascertained between the regions of the country and the number of publications.

Compared to the first six years, the number of citations decreased during the last three years (13%). During the first period, there were no programs with no publications and seven with no Journal of Vascular Surgery publication. During the last three years, there were seven programs with no publications and 19 programs with no Journal of Vascular Surgery publications. The number of aortic-endovascular citations peaked in 2002 and 2003, while the number of open and basic science citations decreased. Imaging citations peaked in 2003–2005, and carotid-endovascular, vein-endovascular, and thoracic aortic-endovascular citations climbed.

The decrease in the number of citations/program/year raises concern about the level of academic activity in vascular surgery. Overall, the annual distribution of the topic of these citations represents a continued shift from open to endovascular cases and decreasing basic science citations.