LAUSR

Trends in Country-Specific Surgical Randomized Clinical Trial Publications Historically, the United States was at the forefront of surgical discovery, as measured by publications and citations.1 A decline in surgical study publications was seen from 2000 to 2010, the drivers of which were hypothesized to be the external and internal pressures from stagnating US funding and the inefficiencies in translating funds into published work.1-3 Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are vital to discovery. We describe trends in country-specific surgical RCT publications in preeminent international journals to generate and inform the dialogue between surgical researchers and funding agencies in the United States.