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[medical1812]

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how many people here have 1st author publications in journals, done in college, med school, or whenever?

how much of a difference is it being a 1st author compared to a 2nd author in a journal when it comes time for interviews?

 

[Bartelby]

I have a first author paper in psychology. I'm not sure how much it matters as various opinions get thrown around on the topic, but if I had to guess I would say it doesn't matter much unless you want a very competitive residency spot. Your step scores and clinical grades will probably be better predictors of how you will match.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Im of the opinion that published research adds to a strong application in terms of USMLE and evaluations, but won't make up for deficiencies in either. I also think you lose about 2/3 of value as you move down the author chain.

 

[TexasPhysician]

I do.
Value = ???

 

[devilpup]

done a 1st author pub. In term of interviewing, it's more likely that the leading author will have more to say about the paper and the original idea. In papers where you have 6+ collaborators, the last few authors could be experts who proofread, detail and carp the paper, etc.- not necessarily the original thinker.

just my 2 cents.

 

[WellWornLad]

Research experiences are often hard to judge from the outside - e.g., did someone really make original contributions to research, or did they clean glassware for a few weeks? 1st authorships put much of that ambiguity aside. You really have to work for those, and the work has to pass the peer review process. For that reason it makes whatever research experience you have shine. If the residency you're applying to couldn't care less about research, it's little better than a talking point, however.

1st author is exponentially better than anything else. It probably depends on the project and how duties are divided up, but in my experience as 1st author I did 95% of the work. Other authors were there to help me when I needed advice or opinions, but I had to implement everything we decided on. And at least one author who was 4th or 5th I had to put on at the behest of one of the co-investigators - I literally only met the guy once and never heard from him again. I think he might have been applying to med school at the time.

 

[JonnyWise]

And at least one author who was 4th or 5th I had to put on at the behest of one of the co-investigators - I literally only met the guy once and never heard from him again. I think he might have been applying to med school at the time.

I have definitely had that same experience. I was fortunate enough to get some papers and abstracts out there with a great PI, but come time to submit and there were always 1-3 people that my PI requested I put on there whom I had never even met before! No big deal though. My PI has gone out of his way many times for me so I could not say no to his request. And at least I was still on there somewhere!

 

[ED527]

I'm not sure if this is the case in other labs but in my lab some projects were started off by some individuals and finished off by others. For example, I'm 3rd author on a paper and 2nd author on another. In both cases, I worked on the project but due to time constraints (i.e. I was a summer student) could not finish the project and then someone else came along and finished it. I still contributed to the manuscript but was moved down the 'author' ladder because someone else completed the study.

As for other people that get added on by the PI, often times, it's collaborators that provided resources to the study (i.e. bacterial strains, equipment, etc) or alternatively, it might be old graduate students that got the project off the ground a few years back.

 

[calespine]

Somewhat related- do you guys think Emergency Med or Gen Surg residency programs will care if you have 1st author basic science publications in another field? The reason I ask is I know that these programs care less (relatively) about research already, so I'm not sure having research in a different field would actually help. Thoughts?

 

[Mr hawkings]

I'm not sure if this is the case in other labs but in my lab some projects were started off by some individuals and finished off by others. For example, I'm 3rd author on a paper and 2nd author on another. In both cases, I worked on the project but due to time constraints (i.e. I was a summer student) could not finish the project and then someone else came along and finished it. I still contributed to the manuscript but was moved down the 'author' ladder because someone else completed the study.

.

I'm actually in the opposite position. the project was started and finnished by a student who submitted the paper. It was rejected for additional work that needed to be done. By this time the guy had already left to pursue a PhD so i took over and did the additional work (about 6 months worth).

We resubmitted the paper with the guy still as the PI and i was 3rd author.