pubs: impact factor

[OpalOnyx]

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How big a difference does the impact factor of your pub make? Of course, it is important... but I wonder if having a low impact factor (let's say around 2) undermines how seriously a pub is taken in terms of residency apps. Heck, they may not have even heard of the journal and hence won't know the impact factor. But not having heard of the journal is then an issue I guess.

 

[235009]

a publication in a journal with a low impact factor (2 isn't even that low ...i'd call it low when it's < 1) is better than no publication at all

 

[cowme]

.

 

[ucsfstudents]

If you plan to apply to a competitive specialty, you should plan to publish your research. (The prestige of the paper is less important than the fact that you got published somewhere). So even if it's a journal that only you and your mentor have heard, it's still a publication.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Research in the thing you want to do > Any Research at All > No research

Prestigious Journal > Any Journal > Poster Presentation > Abstract > Nothing

The purpose of research is to demonstrate that not only are you committed to the task, but that you have been part of a research project or design, that you will know something about research when you are asked to do it again. This is very important for fellowship. You have a limited amount of time in residency to get a research project moving and published. If you have done some of that in med school, that process is easier.

An anecdote. I did research in Hypertension. It was bench work on rats looking at Ace-inhibitors and ARBs. Three separate interviewers asked me if I still wanted to do Nephrology. I was like huh? Hypertension? Surgery on Rats? Anesethesia? The take away was that I wanted to be a Nephrologist. The point is what you do your research in matters.

 

[Yope]

Impact factor matters when you apply for a faculty position, but it shouldn't be too important for residency positions.

Besides, different fields have different impact factor ranges.

 

[OpalOnyx]

i hear ya. it has been tough to select a project for next summer because i am not quite sure what i want to do... and the research stipend is nice too.