Research Papers ? ? ?

[BellaEXE]

I've read tons of responses from various people stating that research publications are fantastic on resumes for medical schools. Only problem is, is that I've been researching about research papers with little to no avail. I suppose my key questions about research papers are this:

1. How much of an impact do they make?
2. What kinds of topics do they have to be over? (Surgeries, medical practices, advancements, etc.)
3. How do you acquire such research? (I've attempted to contact multiple hospitals in the area to get clinical exposure from shadowing and research with no responses(I'll most likely go there in person to attempt to get some info on any program))
4. Does it have to be something undiscovered?
5. Any tips for writing one?

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[PA_dud3]

1) Considerable impact with some research institutions, to the point of them almost being like a requirement in some cases (research, not necessarily publications, coauthoring can be a boon at some schools, others it can just be another EC that looks good).

2)anything, really. If you are using the scientific method and it is scientific research which is peer reviewed and published, it is a publication. My research was literally on something very simple (salinity).

3) Hospitals likely wont yield research opps to you. Ask your profs when the time comes for the opportunity to assist in labs. Publications are not common enough for them to be a guarsnteed result of research for any one student, as proper research can take up to a decade in some extreme cases for a final product to be yielded and studied enough to write about in a journal. It just depends. You could probably swing one or two at a small institution if you started early.

4)Not really. It can just be a new way of making some compound or process. It can really be on or about anything. Whether its existed for years or not.

5) You likely won't be lead author of anything. That is typically reserved for the PI to lead author a publication. You will get plenty if instruction in writing abstracts, summarized procedures, etc. from your school labs. Also maybe take out a subscription to a notable scientifc journal to see how they write.

Research isn't my focus, I have a presentation under my belt but thats about it. Someone with more experience will come along and fill in the gaps. I hope this helps!

 

[BellaEXE]

1) Considerable impact with some research institutions, to the point of them almost being like a requirement in some cases (research, not necessarily publications, coauthoring can be a boon at some schools, others it can just be another EC that looks good).

2)anything, really. If you are using the scientific method and it is scientific research which is peer reviewed and published, it is a publication. My research was literally on something very simple (salinity).

3) Hospitals likely wont yield research opps to you. Ask your profs when the time comes for the opportunity to assist in labs. Publications are not common enough for them to be a guarsnteed result of research for any one student, as proper research can take up to a decade in some extreme cases for a final product to be yielded and studied enough to write about in a journal. It just depends. You could probably swing one or two at a small institution if you started early.

4)Not really. It can just be a new way of making some compound or process. It can really be on or about anything. Whether its existed for years or not.

5) You likely won't be lead author of anything. That is typically reserved for the PI to lead author a publication. You will get plenty if instruction in writing abstracts, summarized procedures, etc. from your school labs. Also maybe take out a subscription to a notable scientifc journal to see how they write.

Research isn't my focus, I have a presentation under my belt but thats about it. Someone with more experience will come along and fill in the gaps. I hope this helps!

Helps a ton! Thank you! I've been looking to write some kind of research over neurosurgery or tumors in the brain, but haven't been able to find where to start.

 

[Cheeezcake]

In addition to @Doktor_dud3 , your school might have an undergraduate research office that can help find you labs, or you can reach out to any of the research faculty on campus about any openings. Your PI (phd in charge of the lab) will then guide you through everything but you most likely won't write your own paper, but the work you perform in that lab can contribute to another paper (usually a grad student or post-docs).

You don't have a phd so you won't do any of it on your own. First things first, find a lab to join, and everything else will come.

 

[NickNaylor]

Research is helpful for a couple of reasons: first, it demonstrates that you're able to stick with something for a prolonged period of time (writing a manuscript is typically not something that occurs overnight), and second, it demonstrates that you have a capacity to engage in scholarly activity. Irrespective of your career goals, you will spend 7+ years during your training in an academic environment, and there will be some expectation - both stated and unstated - that you are academically productive.

Is it necessary to be academically published beforehand? No, of course not. That said, it's a nice thing to have on your application.

How to go about getting published is a long post in and of itself, but the first step would be to find faculty that are doing work that you're interested in and/or are academically productive. In the undergraduate environment this often means traditionally "bench" work (i.e., research work in a lab), but if you're at a university with an affiliated medical school, this doesn't have to be the case. This is unlikely to be something that you will be able to undertake on your own - you will need faculty support in some way, if only for mentoring.

At my undergraduate institution, my academic department had a "scholarly forum" each semester where faculty would be available to meet and talk about their academic work. This was a great opportunity to talk with faculty and seek out opportunities to get involved with research. See if your institution has something like that and go to it if so.

 

[Dr panda]

1. High impact for top 10 (also for MD/PhD programs) but it needs to be 1000s of hours IN ADDITION TO exceptional GPA/MCAT, low impact for other schools. If you have spare time devote it to volunteering better off.

 

[PA_dud3]

Sometimes it is pure luck. Had a couple of middle of the road/non-research students shadow a neurosurgeon and they have published a case report/ literature review on a rare cancer patient under him. Got into a major medical journal

Wow, that'd be pretty awesome to have on an app

 

[evasive fish]

1. High impact for top 10 (also for MD/PhD programs) but it needs to be 1000s of hours IN ADDITION TO exceptional GPA/MCAT, low impact for other schools. If you have spare time devote it to volunteering better off.

Besides impact factor, it's also a matter of how much you actually contributed to the research. A 1st author publication in a "lower" IF journal will demonstrate a lot more about your involvement and independence than being listed as 15th author in a "top" journal's paper.

 

[Dr panda]

Besides impact factor, it's also a matter of how much you actually contributed to the research. A 1st author publication in a "lower" IF journal will demonstrate a lot more about your involvement and independence than being listed as 15th author in a "top" journal's paper.

This is true, however, based on what I have seen on this forum publications are rare for pre-meds, so, even if you are zillionth author it is still better result than what most even strong applicants have.

 

[ObjectiveBoba]

Honestly, this question has always perplexed me. An undergraduate pursuing his/her independent research project is not likely to be published -- it's far more likely that they present their poster at a local/national conference as first author.

An undergraduate providing one Western blot or two might get placed as 15th author on a paper.

For medical school admissions purposes, wouldn't the former case be a more valuable work of scholarly inquiry than the latter? For a CV, the latter is more valuable; but for undergrads with no history of research, I would argue that projects that you have led yourself (e.g. 1st author abstracts) is probably more predictive of future output and scientific curiosity than being placed as a late author in a paper -- even if the journal is Nature.

 

[ObjectiveBoba]

I was published twice in c/n/s as a non-first author in undergrad. Twice in six years of work. The work was immense, the experimental designs were incredibly complicated, and I did work that I know for a fact was more difficult than some of my friends who published first author in smaller labs on smaller projects. N=1, but still.

You're correct -- I am only speaking from my own past experiences and my observations of my friends.

I've been published in very high IF journals before when I only took part running a few Western blots and making a part of a figure. I've also spent 2-3 years working on my independent projects which are now in revision in lower IF journals. If I had to tell you which taught me more about research, there's no question in my mind that the latter projects did.

I'm not disputing that the experimental designs are more difficult in a C/N/S paper compared with other journals. I'm saying that leading your own project, even if it culminates only in a poster presentation, will teach you more about hypothesis-driven experiments and scientific inquiry than being asked by a postdoc to finish experiments (at least from my experience, having been on both sides of the fence).