Question: What is the association between h-index and academic rank in academic neurosurgery?

Context:
 The contemporary h-index was found to be significantly predictive of NIH funding (p<0.001). 
Bibliometric indices are higher for those with NIH funding compared to those without, but only the contemporary h-index was shown to be predictive of NIH funding. 
However, when stratified by academic rank, a trend was observed showing greater mean h-index scores for those who completed fellowships. 
Overall, being a senior faculty member corresponds with a greater h-index score, regardless of whether a fellowship was completed.
There was a positive association between the h-index, academic rank, and years posttraining.
Application of the h-index as a bibliometric in neurosurgery can distinguish academic productivity on the basis of academic rank, years posttraining, and neurosurgical subspecialties. 
Overall, the authors conclude that the h index metric is a reasonable measure of academic productivity in the pediatric neurosurgery arena that provides a robust measure of an individual's contribution to the pediatric neurosurgery literature. 
The h index calculation also reveals the productivity of the pediatric neurosurgeons to be on par with the productivity of neurosurgeons in general.
The h-index frequency distribution conformed to both the log-linear variation of a power law (r                         (2) = .99) and the beta distribution with the same fitting exponents as previously described in a power law analysis of the productivity of neurosurgeons. 
The h indices increased significantly with increasing academic rank, with the median for instructors, assistant professors, associate professors, and professors being 2, 5, 10, and 19, respectively (p < 0.0001, Kruskal-Wallis; all groups significantly different from each other except the difference between instructor and assistant professor [Conover]). Departmental chairs had a median h index of 22 (range 3-55) and program directors a median of 17 (range 0-62). Plot of the log of the rank versus h index demonstrated a remarkable linear pattern (R(2) = 0.995, p < 0.0001), suggesting that this is a power-law relationship.
The distribution of the h index within an academic population is described for the first time and appears related to the ubiquitous power-law distribution.
As expected, the h index increased with academic rank and there was a statistically significant difference between each rank. 
Within the field of academic neurosurgery, clear differences of h indices between academic ranks exist. On average, an increase of the h index by 5 appears to correspond to the next highest academic rank, with the exception of chairperson.
Scopus h-index was of borderline significance in predicting physician salary (P = 0.12). 

Answer: Greater h-index is associated with greater academic rank in academic neurosurgery. The h indices increased significantly with increasing academic rank, with the median for instructors, assistant professors, associate professors, and professors was shown to be 2, 5, 10, and 19, respectively. In addition, h-index was shown to be predictive of NIH funding, fellowship training, academic productivity and salary.