is an undergrad journal publication as good as a professional journal?

[bbaek]

ok ok, I know that publishing as a first author is Neuroscience blows any first-author publication in a respectable undergrad journal, but does it really matter that much to admissions committee? do they look more for the first-authorship rather than the journal it was published or do they give more weight to a person's research experience if they published in a professional journal without the first-author.

in other words, to what extent should a publication be worth, albeit in a undergrad or professional journal?

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[Will Ferrell]

ok ok, I know that publishing as a first author is Neuroscience blows any first-author publication in a respectable undergrad journal, but does it really matter that much to admissions committee? do they look more for the first-authorship rather than the journal it was published or do they give more weight to a person's research experience if they published in a professional journal without the first-author.

in other words, to what extent should a publication be worth, albeit in a undergrad or professional journal?

Hey, I think admission committees care more about grades and MCAT score than what journal you publish for. Research just looks pretty on the side. Don't worry about stupid stuff like that.

 

[biggreen05]

ok ok, I know that publishing as a first author is Neuroscience blows any first-author publication in a respectable undergrad journal, but does it really matter that much to admissions committee? do they look more for the first-authorship rather than the journal it was published or do they give more weight to a person's research experience if they published in a professional journal without the first-author.

in other words, to what extent should a publication be worth, albeit in a undergrad or professional journal?

i'd say it's more important to focus on getting great recs, experiences to talk about/write about in the app, and independent study. in the last respect, publishing in an undergraduate journal, doing a study for academic credit, or anything involving you in the process is great.

however, i at least see the peer review journal publication as a test of depth to your work, saying that it was more than just a 2-3 month part time stint that people love to use as resume padders. and i think adcoms would see it this way too. however, this is a far cry from saying "hey, i was a coauthor cuz i was so great" cuz that's just not true; it's more a reflection of how your mentors' work was going. so don't bug out if you dont' have that publication; you'll be fine if your work was something you put time into and gained experience from.

 

[45408]

It's kind of an iffy situation. If you were just tacked onto the "et al" group of a bunch of authors in an article in a well-known journal, that's probably less significant than if you took initiative to do your own experiment, write an article, and get that published even if it's in a lesser journal.

 

[whitecoat09]

undergrad journals are not peer-reviewed (peers that count, i guess). it's definitely not the same. and research does matter to some schools, especially HST or even stanford

it is better than nothing though