Are literature reviews viewed upon positively for residency?

[Bored_Conscious]

Hi all

Current MS1 here. I recently joined a lab and my mentor asked me my thoughts about writing a literature review. It looks like he gets a good amount of lit review requests from major journals, but he oftentimes turns them down due to being busy or whatever reason a PI may have to turn down

Anyways, he said next time he gets a request, he would let me write one up as first author.

I know literature reviews aren't original manuscripts, but this opportunity seems more "legit" than me just writing up a random lit review. Will this be a good introductory opportunity?

I hope to finish this literature review before summer break starts and intend on asking about getting involved with a current project to be added on as n author or starting my own project

Thanks.

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[Med Ed]

Hi all

Current MS1 here. I recently joined a lab and my mentor asked me my thoughts about writing a literature review. It looks like he gets a good amount of lit review requests from major journals, but he oftentimes turns them down due to being busy or whatever reason a PI may have to turn down

Anyways, he said next time he gets a request, he would let me write one up as first author.

I know literature reviews aren't original manuscripts, but this opportunity seems more "legit" than me just writing up a random lit review. Will this be a good introductory opportunity?

I hope to finish this literature review before summer break starts and intend on asking about getting involved with a current project to be added on as n author or starting my own project

Thanks.

Any publication is better than no publication. If it's feasible, I suggest you considering doing a systematic review or scoping review. Otherwise just make sure the target journal is a decent one. And use a librarian. They can take a lot of work off your shoulders.

I know case reports are more common for medical students, but while they are original, they usually aren't very interesting, they tend to land in low quality journals (because they aren't very interesting), and usually only take a couple of days to write. They don't even meet the definition of research because they are not generalizable.

A good review in a solid journal will take much longer to assemble, put your name out there in a reputable space, and can provide genuine benefit to the scientific community. It can also familiarize you with a topic area in preparation for doing some real original research.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I agree, lit reviews always have some value. My main concern is that they can often take so much time to write that for a trainee it is not worth the effort.

That said, if you are going to do one you should definitely do it as part of an invited review as per your PI. And it seems like several research groups these days are sort of using these reviews as a first task to “prove” yourself before you get a real project, and so if that’s the case then this may be something you have to do. Ultimately, if this is the best option you have at the moment take it and try to finish it as quickly as possible

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Usually this is a proper task for a pre-thesis graduate student to set up a proposal. OP: is doing more research part of your goal?

 

[Bored_Conscious]

I agree, lit reviews always have some value. My main concern is that they can often take so much time to write that for a trainee it is not worth the effort.

That said, if you are going to do one you should definitely do it as part of an invited review as per your PI. And it seems like several research groups these days are sort of using these reviews as a first task to “prove” yourself before you get a real project, and so if that’s the case then this may be something you have to do. Ultimately, if this is the best option you have at the moment take it and try to finish it as quickly as possible

Yup. I assumed it was also an attempt by my PI to see if I can "prove" myself. I also do think it will give me an opportunity to get a deep dive into the literature and learn more.

 

[Bored_Conscious]

Usually this is a proper task for a pre-thesis graduate student to set up a proposal. OP: is doing more research part of your goal?

Most definitely. I love research. I would have done an MD/PhD or gone the PhD route, but one takes too long and medicine draws my heart for the other.

 

[aldol16]

It's better than nothing. Always consider your alternatives. Original research > literature review >>>>> no publication. Literature reviews are nice because you can do it on your own time and at your own pace. It's basically a freebie if it's an invited review and it would be good to get your name out there.

 

[Redpancreas]

Absolutely. I know medical school is getting more competitive but even residents applying to fellowship sometimes don't have original research. I would modify Aldol's hierarchy by adding 50 more >'s to the space between a literature review and no publications.

 

[Niwrad]

Some (many) journals are behind paywalls, if one were to pursue a literature review is there a way to do it without incurring significant costs?

 

[ontiquicuo]

Did you check if your school's library has a subscription?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

What do you mean by "pursue"?

Journals are behind paywalls so that people who want to read it need to pay for it. If you're looking to read one, going to a library is probably your best bet.

If you're asking about submitting to a journal, then there is no paywall. But some/many journals have submission fees. Some journals (usually top jourmals) fund most of their operations via subscription fees and advertising, so submission fees are low. Other journals, often called "open access", allow anyone to read them, and they usually cover their costs with submission fees which can be quite large. And some of those journals are considered "predatory", meaning that they essentially publish anything that gets submitted no matter the quality.

 

[Niwrad]

Did you check if your school's library has a subscription?

Not currently in one at the moment (I did try anyway though)

What do you mean by "pursue"?

Journals are behind paywalls so that people who want to read it need to pay for it. If you're looking to read one, going to a library is probably your best bet.

If you're asking about submitting to a journal, then there is no paywall. But some/many journals have submission fees. Some journals (usually top jourmals) fund most of their operations via subscription fees and advertising, so submission fees are low. Other journals, often called "open access", allow anyone to read them, and they usually cover their costs with submission fees which can be quite large. And some of those journals are considered "predatory", meaning that they essentially publish anything that gets submitted no matter the quality.

For example, wanted to review all current literature on said topic, however one very specific article that is critical to the topic at hand is behind something like a $39.99 paywall. Actually most of the journals that publish the most relevant information is behind paywall, while a lot of open access ones are from foreign insitiutions and/or have no new original research. Additionally most literature reviews cite between 15-50 sources, from a cursory inspection. Even if say just 1 of 10 cited sources were behind a paywall, that would still be several hundred dollars to even "consider" writing a literature review, on top of actually reading and putting all of the information into context.

I am aware of physically going to the library - just looking to see if there perhaps another way, or simply only using the abstracts alone.

 

[Redpancreas]

Not currently in one at the moment (I did try anyway though)

It sounds like you need to get your feet wet. When you have spare time, go to the medical school library and talk to the librarian. You'll likely discover that when you login to your institution's portal, you'll have access to a lot of journals you normally weren't able to access before when just finding things on google. Spend some time with the librarian figuring out how to use PubMed/EMBASE, etc. to do lit reviews on topic.

 

[Niwrad]

It sounds like you need to get your feet wet. When you have spare time, go to the medical school library and talk to the librarian. You'll likely discover that when you login to your institution's portal, you'll have access to a lot of journals you normally weren't able to access before when just finding things on google. Spend some time with the librarian figuring out how to use PubMed/EMBASE, etc. to do lit reviews on topic.

I can't access the library due to being out of school

 

[Redpancreas]

I can't access the library due to being out of school

Not having an active affiliation with an academic institution would be a barrier, but you can still get some stuff done without it.

1.) Create a defined question.
2.) I would invest in a citation manager like EndNote which will at least give you a way to organize the abstracts you need. The abstracts alone should at least tell you what kind of study is being done, some overview of the methods, and some conclusion. You should be able to sort and come up with 10-20 prospective articles based on that search alone.
3.) Afterwards, you can consider emailing the authors of said publications. Many of them probably resent the pay-for-access models and would be happy to just send you the PDF manuscript of what you requested free.
4.) You can also try your public library...worth a shot to see what they have on file. Probably better than nothing.

 

[Niwrad]

Not having an active affiliation with an academic institution would be a barrier, but you can still get some stuff done without it.

1.) Create a defined question.
2.) I would invest in a citation manager like EndNote which will at least give you a way to organize the abstracts you need. The abstracts alone should at least tell you what kind of study is being done, some overview of the methods, and some conclusion. You should be able to sort and come up with 10-20 prospective articles based on that search alone.
3.) Afterwards, you can consider emailing the authors of said publications. Many of them probably resent the pay-for-access models and would be happy to just send you the PDF manuscript of what you requested free.
4.) You can also try your public library...worth a shot to see what they have on file. Probably better than nothing.

Wait, Endnote is $249 per month, am I reading this right?

Also, I've been to the public library, they do indeed have the journals but it is kind of a PIA to have to physically travel to a library in 2023.

 

[Redpancreas]

Wait, Endnote is $249 per month, am I reading this right?

Also, I've been to the public library, they do indeed have the journals but it is kind of a PIA to have to physically travel to a library in 2023.

Definitely did not cost me that much even without an institutional discount. Alternatively you can use an excel sheet to organize yourself. Also you'll have much bigger barriers than driving to a library to get this done and the paper itself will probably take months. Maybe you're better off spending your time doing something you're more motivated to do like working out or learning a language and waiting until you're associated with a school to do this?

 

[Niwrad]

Definitely did not cost me that much even without an institutional discount. Alternatively you can use an excel sheet to organize yourself. Also you'll have much bigger barriers than driving to a library to get this done and the paper itself will probably take months. Maybe you're better off spending your time doing something you've more motivated to do like working out or learning a language and waiting until you're associated with a school to do this?

Ok after getting over the initial shock of a >$2000 yearly subscription I've discovered that it's $275 one time purchase, which is entirely within my budget. I guess it is kinda snarky to make it a subscription when there's literally an official option to buy it for a time purchase on their own website.

Well I am extremely interested in this topic because it pertains to a specific program I'm interested in, and discovered by chance while reading about the research they do, and re-discovered something I had almost forgotten about since starting med school.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Zotero is free. Not quite as good as endnote, but not bad.

 

[operaman]

Zotero is free. Not quite as good as endnote, but not bad.

Seconding zotero. Used it for years and never felt it was lacking.

And OP- for anything you cant get through your library, just email the authors and ask for a pdf. They don’t get a dime if you pay the publisher for it, and I’ve yet to find an author who wasn’t willing to send along a copy if they had one. I had one decline because it was a much older paper - pre-pdf era - and they didn’t know where their copies were. Was eventually able to get it via ILL but it took some doing.