Are independent research publications looked down on?

[BambooRoss]

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I am working on a few publications with some friends. These projects are not connected to a research lab or student organization. They are based on Kaggle datasets on different medical conditions, and we have been analyzing them independently.

One of our projects was already accepted to a conference, and we are hoping to submit more in the future. I am wondering if this looks bad to residency programs or medical schools. Do publications have to be tied to a formal lab or club to be taken seriously? Or is independent research still valued as long as the work is solid?

 

[X0001234]

When you write "publication," what do you mean? An original research article in a peer-reviewed journal? If so, I don't think that'd be looked down upon, as it means your project was overall sound enough to get a thumbs up by a panel of people who are experts in the subject of your research.

But you mention that your project was accepted to a conference. Are you presenting during a poster session? I don't think poster presentations are usually considered publications.

 

[VaultArmitage]

Poster sessions aren't publications generally. If you're doing research in a specific field, people will know the quality of the conference you got accepted at and that will speak for itself.

 

[LizzyM]

poster presentations go on the application as "presentation". If you are published in a peer reviewed journal, then it will be "counted" by adcoms. Otherwise, it is just a hobby.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Unless you're an amateur astronomer who discovered a new planet or galaxy, not much weight.

Amateur Astronomers Help Discover Cosmic Crash - NASA Science

Astronomers found what looks like a glowing cloud of dust from a massive planetary pile-up—and NASA volunteers helped make the discovery!

science.nasa.gov

 

[polymerization]

I am working on a few publications with some friends. These projects are not connected to a research lab or student organization. They are based on Kaggle datasets on different medical conditions, and we have been analyzing them independently.

One of our projects was already accepted to a conference, and we are hoping to submit more in the future. I am wondering if this looks bad to residency programs or medical schools. Do publications have to be tied to a formal lab or club to be taken seriously? Or is independent research still valued as long as the work is solid?

Find a graduate seminar open to undergraduates in this area and make it your senior capstone. You have to find a way to make this effort legitimate or you're wasting your time. Someone with letters after their name has to vouch.

I took an AI Applications in Biology course where we could use Kaggle data to address a medical problem. It ended up becoming a sizable part of my application, and because I was taking a "graduate" course, the work was more rigorous in every way: expectations, grading, of course...but the biggest benefit was the mentorship. Having a PI teaching a class of <20 students total with 3 TAs meant that I used and abused my resources and learned a tremendous amount.

I worked that project like my life depended on it...and in the end, even though it wasn't considered traditional, mentored bench research, I did think it offered my application an edge in innovation/discovery/curiosity that schools like Stanford and UPenn tend to value.

It was something I could do (aside from bench research I did have) to remind adcoms that I'm still interested in contributing to novel advances in medicine, even if I don't "have to" the way someone with zero research might.

 

[vex10]

I do tons of this type of "independent" reserach and I think its valuable!

 

[BambooRoss]

When you write "publication," what do you mean? An original research article in a peer-reviewed journal? If so, I don't think that'd be looked down upon, as it means your project was overall sound enough to get a thumbs up by a panel of people who are experts in the subject of your research.

But you mention that your project was accepted to a conference. Are you presenting during a poster session? I don't think poster presentations are usually considered publications.

its to an IEEE conference for robotics where its a conference paper, would that be counted as a publication?

 

[vex10]

poster presentations go on the application as "presentation". If you are published in a peer reviewed journal, then it will be "counted" by adcoms. Otherwise, it is just a hobby.

What if I am accepted to publish in AHA's Hypertension Journal and Circulation Journal via abstract publications? Those count, I believe, right? I have around 6-8 of those revolving around epidemiological research, analyzing the burden of disease across the US.

 

[PickaGodnPray]

its to an IEEE conference for robotics where its a conference paper, would that be counted as a publication?

Was it peer reviewed? Is the publication available the conference website with a DOI? If yes, it leans more publication but you need to be clear it is a conference paper on AMCAS.
If no to either, it leans more abstract/presentation and should be listed as such. I lean more towards it belonging here, but am unfamiliar with robotics/engineering conferences to say if these are prestigious accomplishments.
Overall, the independence of the project shouldn't matter, but make sure your work is peer reviewed in that case. There are plenty of "journals" that are predatory and publish unreviewed research just to bump their numbers.

 

[PickaGodnPray]

What if I am accepted to publish in AHA's Hypertension Journal and Circulation Journal via abstract publications? Those count, I believe, right? I have around 6-8 of those revolving around epidemiological research, analyzing the burden of disease across the US.

These are not publications in the sense that AMCAS wants them listed. Those are glorified presentations that have not undergone the same stringent process a paper would.

 

[LizzyM]

When we talk about publications, we ordinarily mean a research paper that follows the traditional introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusions with tables and figures. It is peer reviewed. It appears in print and/or online and has a DOI number. There are other publications such as book chapters (good), editorials and clinical teaching cases (almost never co-authored by pre-meds), as well as poems, essays, and letters to the editor (not really something anyone will count very much even if they appear in JAMA).

 

[eigen]

As an aside, IEEE conference papers are largely the currency of "publications" in some areas of engineering and computer science, but that is not well known or understood outside the field, and you want to be very careful in how you contextualize it in an application to people not familiar with the area.

 

[vex10]

These are not publications in the sense that AMCAS wants them listed. Those are glorified presentations that have not undergone the same stringent process a paper would.

doesn't hurt to add those lol I was advised. defo not as stong as a bench lab pub or a full review article, but those are also on lock lol

 

[PickaGodnPray]

doesn't hurt to add those lol I was advised. defo not as stong as a bench lab pub or a full review article, but those are also on lock lol

Not saying not to add them, especially if you are honest about what they are, but it will not tick the publication box for admission committees and not grant you the points associated with it.