How should I enter publication in prep into AMCAS?

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buckeye221

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Hello,

I am in a bit of a dilemma as I am expecting the paper that I have been working on with my postdoc for 1.5 years is probably going to be submitted for reviews in early to mid-June. I was obviously hoping to have it published by now as I will be a co-author, but now that it is in the final stages of preparation, I was wondering if I could enter it as in prep into AMCAS. Obviously, I would prefer to submit my AMCAS primary sooner rather than later, but would it make more sense to wait for the paper to be in review before I submit or can I write it as a publication "In prep" as I have seen some websites use this format. Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you!
 
I guess it won't hurt to mention a manuscript-in-preparation, but it will be significantly less impressive compared to an accepted manuscript. Technically anyone conducting research can "prepare" a BS unacceptable manuscript, so simply preparing or submitting a manuscript to a journal isn't as impressive. You also do not want to submit the AMCAS and say that your manuscript is "in review" without actually submitting your manuscript first, because you may never end up submitting the manuscript, for whatever reason. Then you find yourself in a bad situation.

I recommend submitting the AMCAS without mentioning your paper-in-preparation, and if your paper becomes accepted later in the cycle, you can send an update letter mentioning your accomplishment.

During my application cycle, I also had a first-author manuscript that was accepted, and I sent an update letter post-interview.
 
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I'm in a similar boat where had a publication accepted but with revisions and revisions will be done around July/August. I was advised to save it for a nice update letter so I'd suggest you do the same.