Publications

[PsP for real]

So I am about to start medical school in the Fall and was looking at residency matches one night randomly. I noticed that in most cases people had publications. I currently have none, but have done some research. During school are these opportunities readily available or am I behind because I do not already have one?
Thanks

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[winkleweizen]

so i am about to start medical school in the fall and was looking at residency matches one night randomly. I noticed that in most cases people had publications. I currently have none, but have done some research. During school are these opportunities readily available or am i behind because i do not already have one?
Thanks

screwed!!!!!!

 

[Dr Love]

So I am about to start medical school in the Fall and was looking at residency matches one night randomly. I noticed that in most cases people had publications. I currently have none, but have done some research. During school are these opportunities readily available or am I behind because I do not already have one?
Thanks

It depends on what school you go to, but I don't think you are behind. I go to a top 5 med school and I can only think of 3 people in my class with publications.

 

[LoveandHate]

It depends on what school you go to, but I don't think you are behind. I go to a top 5 med school and I can only think of 3 people in my class with publications.

Wow!!!

I think people are just being surprisingly modest. Half the people at my top 15 school have pubs.

 

[CatFactorial]

The opportunities are readily available, even if there's not much going on at your school (unlikely). The tricky part is having the time to do publishable work.

In descending order, you'll have the most time MS1 (including summer)/MS4>>MS2>>>>>>>>>>MS3.

Does your school have a thesis/research program? Also look at summer programs.

However, realize that your USMLE and clinical grades carry much more weight, so don't sacrifice those for the sake of a paper.

 

[dienekes88]

So I am about to start medical school in the Fall and was looking at residency matches one night randomly. I noticed that in most cases people had publications. I currently have none, but have done some research. During school are these opportunities readily available or am I behind because I do not already have one?
Thanks

I didn't have any prior to starting medical school; research mentorship varies among schools and even within the same school.

My advice - as someone who fumbled his way through research during medical school - is to start planning your summer project for between 1st and 2nd year in November of your 1st year, because summer fellowship deadlines are as early as mid-January and possibly earlier. It can be as easy as setting up a meeting with someone in a field in which you're interested and then flat out asking, "do you have any projects I could help with or start?" Hopefully, this is a project that is good enough for you to carry it through 2nd year and get a solid publication.

Clinical research is much easier and faster to publish than basic science research.

Having said that, Step 1 and grades are definitely the most important. However, a few of my interviewers have mentioned that it's really good to have a first author paper.

Best of luck.

 

[Butler]

It depends on what school you go to, but I don't think you are behind. I go to a top 5 med school and I can only think of 3 people in my class with publications.

I like how people go bananas over US World Rankings like it actually means something .

 

[PsP for real]

I didn't have any prior to starting medical school; research mentorship varies among schools and even within the same school.

My advice - as someone who fumbled his way through research during medical school - is to start planning your summer project for between 1st and 2nd year in November of your 1st year, because summer fellowship deadlines are as early as mid-January and possibly earlier. It can be as easy as setting up a meeting with someone in a field in which you're interested and then flat out asking, "do you have any projects I could help with or start?" Hopefully, this is a project that is good enough for you to carry it through 2nd year and get a solid publication.

Clinical research is much easier and faster to publish than basic science research.

Having said that, Step 1 and grades are definitely the most important. However, a few of my interviewers have mentioned that it's really good to have a first author paper.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the great input. I'm really interested in Neuro at this point (I know this is highly subject to change) so I should look for a clinical Neuro project to hop on to as an M1 or does the field not matter?
Thanks again!

 

[TallScrubs]

I like how people go bananas over US World Rankings like it actually means something .

I'm going to start ranking everything I do from now on.

 

[235009]

It depends on what school you go to, but I don't think you are behind. I go to a top 5 med school and I can only think of 3 people in my class with publications.

well then you're out of the loop buddy. i don't go to a "top" school and i can think of more people in my class who have published. keep in mind some (most?) people don't like to broadcast their achievements whereas others (for example those 3 people you mentioned) tell anyone willing to listen

 

[Brachyury]

So I am about to start medical school in the Fall and was looking at residency matches one night randomly. I noticed that in most cases people had publications. I currently have none, but have done some research. During school are these opportunities readily available or am I behind because I do not already have one?
Thanks

You were probably looking at the Charting outcomes in the match document. Pubs are grouped into a category that includes abstracts and presentations, too. Most med students will not have 5 pubs, but they might have 1 pub and 4 abstracts, or they might not have any. Research is a must for plastics and rad onc, but for just about everything else, it'll certainly help

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

well then you're out of the loop buddy. i don't go to a "top" school and i can think of more people in my class who have published. keep in mind some (most?) people don't like to broadcast their achievements whereas others (for example those 3 people you mentioned) tell anyone within earshot

fixed. and at what point did Dr. Love have access to and look at the CVs of all his classmates? because that's the only way someone can credibly make such a statement.

 

[qmcat]

I'm not sure about this, but if the charting outcomes number of publications includes things like case reports or reviews as a publication then it certainly is possible to rack up your number of publications in med school. I know of some classmates who wrote up cases during their rotations or just wrote a review, which is essentially a summary of other research papers on a certain topic. Sure, case reports and reviews don't look as impressive as a clinical research paper or basic science paper, but if it counts as a publication, then what the heck.

 

[dienekes88]

Thanks for the great input. I'm really interested in Neuro at this point (I know this is highly subject to change) so I should look for a clinical Neuro project to hop on to as an M1 or does the field not matter?
Thanks again!

My understanding is that neurology isn't super competitive except maybe at the very top places (I think... WashU, Penn, Columbia, Partners/Harvard, Seattle?), so publishing a manuscript isn't the sine qua non of a successful application as compared to neurosurgery or radonc. Having said that, publications are always good. Learning how to bring one of these things from IRB through editing the author proof is worthwhile.

It is not entirely clear to me, but my interpretation of the things I've heard on the interview trail (surgery) is that the exact field doesn't matter. It's more a proxy for how academically inclined you are, your ability to follow through on things, etc. Having said that, getting into clinical neurology research might help you figure out if it's really something you'd want to do. I will admit that the brain is fascinating, but I could never do neurology. There's gotta be something at your school about outcomes in the Neuro ICU.

I haven't matched yet, so I don't really know if what I'm doing even works. If you see me post in mid-March whining about scrambling, then disregard everything I've said!

 

[winkleweizen]

O my effing gosh...most people dont have a publication going into medical school and most people dont have a publication leaving medical school...alot of people do do some kind of research between first and second year and may have a poster presentation or some worthless bull****, but for the most part it really isnt going to help you much.

 

[Dr Love]

fixed. and at what point did Dr. Love have access to and look at the CVs of all his classmates? because that's the only way someone can credibly make such a statement.

OK people calm down.
1. I said I only know of 3 people in my class who have publications. There might be more, maybe 4 or 5 or 10. Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of my class does not have publications.
2. I said top 5 med school only because top schools value research more than other schools and make more research opportunities available, so the number of students with publications is probably on the high end at my school.
3. Publications to me mean articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. I don't count posters or abstracts or that work you did for a high school science fair.