Registry Research Funding of the German Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (DGPRÄC) and Research Funding Report 2015/2016

In addition to the impact factor, research funding also plays a central role in evaluating the academic performance and quality of a researcher, a clinic or a surgical specialty. The scope and quality of research in Plastic Surgery are usually very little known, so that even large funding institutions do not get a full view of research funding in our specialty. Therefore, sometimes traditional structures are not adapted to new needs by the developing younger surgical fields. In peer review sometimes peers are not chosen from the same surgical specialty, but from a different surgical fields being peers in large field of surgery. By this a bias can easily be generated which would not be advantageous for subspecialties such Plastic Surgery. The goal of this paper is to establish an overview in the form of a registry of the German Society of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (DGPRAC) in order to make the joint academic achievements more visible in the future. At the same time, a research funding report is to be published for the years 2015 and 2016.