To evaluate the effect of a dedicated research year on academic productivity in a heterogeneous group of urology programs.

We obtained information on publication output for the past 5 years, from 2009 to 2013, of urology graduates from all 15 New York Section residency programs (n = 148). We recorded resident sex; whether the program has a dedicated year of research; number of residents per year; total number of publications per resident noting first, second, and third or greater authorship; and whether residents pursued fellowship training.

Overall, the median number of total publications was 3 for residents in 5-year programs compared with 7 in 6-year programs (P = .0007). This difference remained significant when evaluating the number of publications per year as well as the number of first and third or greater authorship. Programs with 3 residents per year had significantly more publications than those with 1 or 2, regardless of research time. Graduates of 5-year programs were less likely than their 6-year counterparts to pursue fellowship training. There was a significantly higher publication output for those residents who went on to fellowship training. On multivariate analysis, 5- or 6-year program, the number of residents per year and pursuit of fellowship training remained statistically significant predictors of total publication number.

Urology residents with a dedicated year of research produce more than 2 times the number of publications than their counterparts in 5-year programs. This dedicated research time and greater publication output were both indicative of the pursuit of fellowship training.