Should I be prepared for criticism?

[gdub4ever]

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I listed a first-author Cureus paper on my application. I felt happy about it; we received quality comments from the peer reviewers and the journal is PubMed indexed, but reading stuff online is worrying. For my T25 interview next month, should I expect some questions about the Cureus paper and its validity?

I am the first-author of 7 total authors. It was a literature review too, but the drafting process took me well over 6 months since the topic is niche.

 

[CRISPRi]

Do the interviewers at the school have access to your application? If yes then maybe some attending/academic might have a question on why you pursued publishing in Cureus instead of a more reputable journal. From what I know about Cureus having done bench research for 3+ years now, the pros are a step in the right direction in terms of making the publication process better/more attainable, but the journal overall can be categorized as predatory because of the review and publication process. I think the fact that it was a lit review and not basic/translational/clinical research makes it better. Obviously the admissions committee doesn’t mind as they extended you an II, but if it is brought up (I.e. the pub, not Cureus specifically) you have to be able to describe why the review was important/why you pursued it

 

[Goro]

As long as it's not a predatory journal, it should be okay. In my book if something is listed in PubMed it's not predatory.

If I ever have any doubts I ask my chief librarian if such and such Journal is predatory, because they have access to lists of such journals.

This isn't going to make or break you

 

[Med Ed]

Cureus is indexed in PubMed, and you can qualify for free publication by meeting their submission requirements. So it doesn't really fit the profile of a predatory journal.

The misgivings people have about Cureus usually center on its process of peer review, which is a significant departure from what they're used to. It has undoubtedly disrupted a slow and archaic system, but whether or not its a good thing remains to be seen.

 

[gdub4ever]

Thank you for the valuable insight! We lacked the funds and guidance to pursue a more reputable journal. As the corresponding author and person in charge of the project, I also felt comfortable working with a low-tier PubMed indexed journal like Cureus over other journals.