The Value of Publishing Case Reports

[qwopty99]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi folks

Speaking of publishing, what is the academic "value" of case reports to the person who writes them? Like, can anyone suggest what it means qualitatively if you've published case reports, vs not publishing them?

Suppose 2 candidates are competing for a position. They both have the same academic degrees (let's say MD/PhD or whatever). Both have 4 first-author studies, but one of them has additionally written, say, 5 case reports in peer-reviewed journals.

Without discussing the "quality" of the studies of the candidates (assume they are basically close enough to being the same), are the case reports likely to be the tie-breaker? Or are they ranked so low that other "soft" factors will still factor much more importantly?

Edit: to give a fuzzy standard to "importance", in the model I'm suggesting here, if there was a difference in pubs 4 vs 3, the person with 4 would get the job based on that additional pub. So in this context, pubs are viewed heavily over "soft" factors. The question is whether 5 case reports would have the same deciding value.

 

[qwopty99]

So does no one know, or no one cares?

 

[Brunette1981]

the former... most of us are pre-md/phd applicants or md/phd students (generally in PhD years or earlier, with exceptions) so most of us have less clinical experience and haven't been involved any case reports. or in academic job searches for that matter. maybe aProgDir could help?

they might help you advance in a clinical department but would likely mean much less in a basic science department... in your example, more is usually more so 4 papers + 4 case reports is > 4 papers. but 4 papers would generally be > 4 case reports alone. 2 papers + 4 case reports or 3 papers? probably a wash, depends on quality of the papers.

also depends on field, undoubtedly case reports are better for orthopods and neurosurg researchers than people in cardiology but who knows?