Does a first author publication in basic science later help in dental specialty?

[clubwestpua]

I have a friend who is boasting about his first author publication. He claims that having this will help him not only in getting in to not just dental school but also later competitive dental specialty. However his research focus is about neuroscience and physiology not about endo or perio. Is it really that helpful?

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[doc toothache]

I have a friend who is boasting about his first author publication. He claims that having this will help him not only in getting in to not just dental school but also later competitive dental specialty. However his research focus is about neuroscience and physiology not about endo or perio. Is it really that helpful?

Your "friend" must think that readers of the article will be fooled by who the real author of the paper is. Nothing wrong with fantasizing.

 

[clubwestpua]

Your "friend" must think that readers of the article will be fooled by who the real author of the paper is. Nothing wrong with fantasizing.

Right, because even if he is the first author, it would neither be his idea nor design. However, in medicine, I hear that ROAD specialities require 1st pubs. So will it be same in OMFS, Ortho, and Endo?

 

[doc toothache]

Right, because even if he is the first author, it would neither be his idea nor design. However, in medicine, I hear that ROAD specialities require 1st pubs. So will it be same in OMFS, Ortho, and Endo?

You seem to be confusing terms; original research/1st author. Until there is a degree in hand and you do research on your own, it is hard to imagine a claim of "first author".

 

[Trilby]

Is an authorship in a publication going to help him get into dental school or a competitive residency?

 

[doc toothache]

Is an authorship in a publication going to help him get into dental school or a competitive residency?

While possible, it is unlikely; in general no-in a specific, case maybe. Residencies are usually interested in the performance one had during ds and less concerned with "authorship" as an undergrad.

 

[UCLAzy]

While possible, it is unlikely; in general no-in a specific, case maybe. Residencies are usually interested in the performance one had during ds and less concerned with "authorship" as an undergrad.

why are you so butthurt? authorship is authorship. you must not be familiar with research.

 

[doc toothache]

why are you so butthurt? authorship is authorship. you must not be familiar with research.

You are probably right. Publishing in R Digest is the same as publishing in JOC, not to mention functioning as a lab tech vs writing a research (grant) proposal.

 

[Predent25]

As a biochemist, I will weigh in. It is my opinion that your research experience, no matter the role, is a definite plus for you. You do not have to specifically write the grant to publish first author. You're source of money, e.g. P.I, NIH etc, can pay for a large project and you can carry out a small piece of it and write a first author publication on it. Of course you must credit your PI as an author as well. In grad school I published several papers using "house" grant money, and have a few papers based on my own funded work. You can even publish first author based on a GLP protocol that you yourself didn't devise. Whatever it is you are doing, the experience is not meaningless and will help you however it turns out. I would reach out to dental specialist who have been through it, and see what they have done. Myself, a researcher/ predent, or a general dentist are probably not the best sources. Good luck. Your research will be another line on your application.

 

[Predent25]

As for making your friend, or you, more competitive I would say not really. It will be a talking point in the dental school interview at most. It will not carry you into dental school with ease or get you into a residency that's for sure. I have a PhD and I had to bust my butt to get the high DAT and gpa. That's what got me the interview. My research was a conversation point that lasted a few minutes at most. Do as much as you can, but it is the same song over and over: gpa and dat. Throw some shadowing, personal experiences and research in there and you are golden.

 

[UCLAzy]

You are probably right. Publishing in R Digest is the same as publishing in JOC, not to mention functioning as a lab tech vs writing a research (grant) proposal.

JOC? did u mean JOE or JDR? i'm not sure what you mean by R digest? readers digest? since you're such a speech nazi, i guess i'd edit my post to say peer reviewed authorship is peer reviewed authorship.

and you REALLY think that dental students write research grants? the people that write the grants arent the ones that do the experiments most of the time.

you seem pretty out of touch

 

[hifive]

I have a friend who is boasting about his first author publication. He claims that having this will help him not only in getting in to not just dental school but also later competitive dental specialty. However his research focus is about neuroscience and physiology not about endo or perio. Is it really that helpful?

Research of any kind is a plus, but not a make or break, exam scores for that speciality and rank is more important.