Does my research matter?

[Dunkthetall]

I conducted clinical research experiments before medical school, but my lab was old school and wasn’t in the habit of letting techs publish. That is, until my last several months there. I did some data analysis to try to publish an abstract but didn’t get it done before school started. However, over the past year I’ve been put as a middle author on several poster and abstracts presented at conferences.

I’m doing research in my current field of interest, but was wondering if these posters/abstracts would count for anything once I apply to residency.

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[GoSpursGo]

Yes

 

[Styrene]

Yes, why not?

 

[JBM16BYU]

Manuscript publications, abstract publications, oral presentations, poster presentations, etc., always count. Like, even if you published something as an undergraduate student, you can still have that on your CV as an attending

 

[Dunkthetall]

Yes, why not?

I was under the impression that posters/abstracts and case reports were seen as “fluff,” even when someone is a first author. So as a middle-author I was wondering if programs would care at all.

 

[operaman]

Yes it definitely counts.

Not all research is viewed equally of course, but all of it carries some weight. In attending land, usually only first and last author publications count toward promotion requirements, but everything still goes on the CV.

1) any research shows you have real experience and know how to get some things done. The more you have, the more experienced you appear and are more likely to keep being productive in training.

2) there’s a volume effect to be had. Someone with nothing but 5 high quality first author publications certainly looks impressive and shows they can get projects from A to Z, but there’s also something to be said for the visual impact of 10-15 entries and 2-3 decent first author pubs. Sure, if someone looks carefully they can see the difference, but that initial visual says a lot. It’s like the difference between a 3 page and a 10 page CV - even if the 3 page has higher quality stuff, the 10 page conveys a message simply by its size. In your case, you have the opportunity to have both a visually impressive CV and some quality field-specific publications as well.

 

[pazzer2]

Posters/abstracts are often the precursor to a peer-reviewed manuscript. So it is definitely not seen as "fluff". Most people will have a section in their CV for publications. Just make sure to split up the peer reviewed pubs vs posters and you'll be fine.

 

[Dunkthetall]

Ah that makes sense, thank you for the insight everyone. I was debating on even putting them on my CV until now haha.

 

[aldol16]

All publications and abstracts will count. They stay with you forever.

 

[mvenus929]

As long as you can talk about the research and what it was and what you found. It will certainly raise eyebrows if you have a bunch of posters/publications on your CV for residency interviews but can't talk about what you contributed or what the research was.