How can I get published on a clinical trial?

[forsparta]

Hello,

I am considering doing some research and looking into clinical trials. How does the publishing process work for them? Would i be a late late co-author for joining in on the research and, if so, would it help my resume?

I have always waned to participate on clinical studies since college and now I would like to get invovled.

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[Ombret]

Whether this is possible at all will depend a lot on your stage of training and how much time you can devote to being involved in a project. Assuming you are already "in the system" in an academic medical center (med student or resident, etc.), you could probably find a role in a trial being done at your institution. Contact the research coordinator in the division of Your Favorite Subspecialty and see if they need someone to push some pencils in a local trial. You might be able to review charts, complete paperwork or do something like that and thereby get your name on the eventual publication. It could be pretty educational to see the inside of a clinical trial and could help you figure out if you want to do this type of research in the future--but having something like this on your CV will not exactly make your career.

The other type of trial is a larger multi-institutional study; these are the high-profile papers you see in NEJM and JAMA every week. Authorship on multi-institutional trials is highly political and if you are asking this question, it is probably out of the question. Each institution enrolling patients gets to put in a couple of authors and their order will depend on how many patients they contributed. Almost all of these people will be attendings. Then the sponsor will throw in their own study pathologists, statisticians and whoever else was involved in the central parts of the study. Medical students and office staff who helped fill out paperwork might get mentioned in the acknowledgements if they are lucky.

 

[forsparta]

Whether this is possible at all will depend a lot on your stage of training and how much time you can devote to being involved in a project. Assuming you are already "in the system" in an academic medical center (med student or resident, etc.), you could probably find a role in a trial being done at your institution. Contact the research coordinator in the division of Your Favorite Subspecialty and see if they need someone to push some pencils in a local trial. You might be able to review charts, complete paperwork or do something like that and thereby get your name on the eventual publication. It could be pretty educational to see the inside of a clinical trial and could help you figure out if you want to do this type of research in the future--but having something like this on your CV will not exactly make your career.

The other type of trial is a larger multi-institutional study; these are the high-profile papers you see in NEJM and JAMA every week. Authorship on multi-institutional trials is highly political and if you are asking this question, it is probably out of the question. Each institution enrolling patients gets to put in a couple of authors and their order will depend on how many patients they contributed. Almost all of these people will be attendings. Then the sponsor will throw in their own study pathologists, statisticians and whoever else was involved in the central parts of the study. Medical students and office staff who helped fill out paperwork might get mentioned in the acknowledgements if they are lucky.

Thank you for your response, I truly appreciate it. I was hoping to learn as much as I could regarding clinical trials and have a better understanding of it not only for my own knowledge but so I could contribute it to my patients in the future.

I would honestly be more interested in being a late, late co-author on a JAMA or NEJM paper so that it could help me get my foot in the door for later opportunities. I know you say that it is probably out of the question, but do you have any advice on how I can find opportunities like this? I am at the Mayo Clinic so I figure these things must be around, it is just finding them that is a bit challenging.

Also, could you describe the second set of clinical trials a bit more? I tried searching but couldn't find a well versed answer on what they are and how they are "political"

 

[Neuronix]

I would honestly be more interested in being a late, late co-author on a JAMA or NEJM paper so that it could help me get my foot in the door for later opportunities.

I'm sorry but this is nieve to the point of ridiculousness. Principal Investigators and head statisticians get their names on large multi-institutional clinical trials. That's it. When you get to be faculty then you might get to be a late co-author on a JAMA or NEJM paper. For now, you join a group doing clinical research for the experience. If you contribute to a small phase I or II trial or a retrospective analysis as a medical student, you might get published in a small field journal, and then you might be named.

I was hoping to learn as much as I could regarding clinical trials and have a better understanding of it not only for my own knowledge but so I could contribute it to my patients in the future.

If this is true, go join a lab and get experience. You being named on a JAMA or NEJM paper has nothing to do with your contribution to patients in the future.

 

[agp4]

I understand the allure of clinical trials and NEJM/JAMA, but I think you have a flawed understanding of how clinical trials work. For one, they take forever, and I don't think they're going to be particularly instructive to a student. And, as Neuronix correctly points out, you're just not going to get much credit, if any, on a large multi-institutional trial.

I think you have the right idea when you say you want to learn as much as possible; you just need to reset your priorities. If clinical research is your thing, get involved in a case study. If you're serious about developing clinical trials, then some time in a pharmacology lab might do you some good. If you have questions specifically about Mayo, PM me!