Very small, low impact, high school publication....worth adding to secondaries?

[coffeeandcodeine]

Hey guys,

My current research of about 4 years remains unpublished (although it is currently in the pipeline), but I have a second author publication in a low impact journal from my work in high school. Would you guys consider this worth adding to my secondary applications when specifically asked about publications? I'm not sure if it would help me, by showing a long term commitment to research, or possibly hurt me due to the low impact factor. I think most likely it will have no effect/net neutral....

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[LizzyM]

If you have < 15 items and you wanted to list this and in the description say that this was your first taste of research and that it was the beginning of what you hope to be a productive career in research then I'd not fault you for it. You could also squeeze into the description the fact that you have other research publications in the pipeline. Anyone who has gotten to the point of publishing research knows it often takes a long time from writing the words to seeing them published.

 

[aldol16]

At the undergraduate level, having a scientific publication of any sort is an accomplishment regardless of impact factor (unless it's a junk non-peer reviewed journal or something like that). Impact factors are really only important for us graduate students when we apply for post-doc fellowships, faculty positions, etc.