Medical Student- and Resident-Authored Publications in Academic Medicine From 2002 to 2016: A Growing Trend and Its Implications

SCRIPting a Path to Scholarship: How Student Journals Reduce Barriers to Publication

Early initiation of research activities among medical students is associated with later academic success and improved scientific productivity; however, barriers to publication in mainstream journals may deter students from disseminating their scholarly work. We sought to determine the impact of Scholarly Research in Progress (SCRIP), a student journal, on students' level of experience, knowledge, or practice related to writing and publication, writing apprehension, and scholarly productivity. Students from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine were surveyed via Qualtrics to assess their experience and motivation to publish, determine publication rates, and better understand barriers to publishing practices. Data was reported using means and standard deviations for ranked questions. One hundred sixteen participants responded, and 77 completed surveys were included in the analysis. Participants who had previously published in SCRIP indicated they were more confident in writing manuscripts (p = 0.003), submitting articles (p = 0.002), navigating the publication process (p = 0.008), and navigating the peer-review process (p = 0.033) compared to those who had not previously published in SCRIP. SCRIP-published participants were also more likely to place a high value on publishing research in their careers (p = 0.028). There was no significant difference in the average number of total PubMed-indexed publications between SCRIP-published participants and non-SCRIP-published participants (p = 0.779). Overall, SCRIP positively impacted students' attitude towards future publication and was associated with improved writing confidence. Reviewer feedback was well-received by students and helped to improve their research to a publishable level while supporting development of their scientific writing skills and confidence.

Scholarly impact of student authorship in urology research

BACKGROUND

H-index is an indicator of research productivity considered in faculty promotion. We examine trends in female authorship and effect of student authorship on H-index of principal investigators (PI).

METHODS

Author gender, degree, designation as student, PI, or other, were recorded from Journal of Endourology from 2011 to 2020. PI Scopus H-index was recorded. PIs were classified into having student authors (SA) or not (nSA). Analysis conducted with IBM SPSS.

RESULTS

Of 819 total articles, 26 ​% had SA. Articles with SAs increased from 22.2 ​% in 2011 to 31.1 ​% in 2020 (p for trend<0.01). There was an increasing trend in female authorship overall (R2 ​= ​0.84). PIs with SA had a significantly higher mean H-index than those without, across all years (SA ​= ​30.91, nSA ​= ​27.45, p ​= ​0.025).

CONCLUSIONS

Student authorship is increasing and positively benefits PI H-index. Female authorship is increasing overall within urology. Encouraging mentorship and student research can enhance and support female student interest in urology.

Mapping the Landscape of Medical Humanities Education: Trends and Insights

BACKGROUND

Medical humanities education is an integral component of medical education. However, the current landscape of research on medical humanities education remains incomplete. The purpose of this study is to identify the trends in research on medical humanities education and provide a global overview of the field by analysing various aspects such as sources, authors, literature, and keywords. The aim is to offer insights and recommendations for the future development of medical humanities education.

METHODS

This research utilised bibliometric tools such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace, SciMAT, and the R software package biblioshiny to analyse literature sources, authors, documents, and keywords. This systematic review methodology allowed for a comprehensive examination of the field. Additionally, the study investigated international collaborations and scientific outputs, shedding light on the global landscape of medical humanities education research.

RESULTS

The study included a total of 403 articles published between January 1980 and December 2023 from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The field of medical humanities education experienced an annual growth rate of 9.08% in literature output from 1980 to 2023, indicating its increasing prominence and scholarly interest over time. The research topics within this field have evolved in response to societal and medical developments. Core research themes that have consistently garnered attention from researchers include empathy, ethics, and narrative medicine, reflecting their significance and ongoing relevance in the field.

CONCLUSION

These shifts in research hotspots signify the dynamic nature of the field, adapting to evolving contexts and emerging research domains. By embracing cross-cultural perspectives and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, stakeholders in medical humanities education can collectively enrich the field, promote inclusivity, and enhance the overall educational experience for healthcare professionals.

Research productivity of first-year Canadian ophthalmology residents: a 12-year trend

OBJECTIVE

Research experience is one criterion of the selection process for applicants to residency training programs. We aim to quantify temporal trends in research productivity of medical students who matched into a canadian ophthalmology residency program.

DESIGN

Retrospective database review.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 465 residents commencing ophthalmology training from 2010 to 2022 in 15 Canadian ophthalmology residency programs.

METHODS

The names of all residents commencing training in ophthalmology in all Canadian programs from 2010 to 2022 were identified. Bibliometric data including publication count and type, authorship position, and H-index corresponding to the match year were extracted from the Scopus database. Descriptive and univariate statistics were used to characterize and assess trends in research productivity.

RESULTS

A total of 461 ophthalmology residents (99% complete data set) from all 15 residency programs representing 1179 publications, including 679 ophthalmology-related publications, were identified. Most publications were original research (676; 58%), followed by case reports and letters (324; 27%) and reviews (162; 14%). Overall, 62% of residents had at least 1 publication at the time of the match, with a mean of 2.56 ± 3.49 publications and a mean H-index of 1.03 ± 1.48 publications. There was a significant increase (p < 0.001) in all research productivity metrics except senior authorship in the period 2019-2022 compared with 2010-2018. Notably, 91% of residents had ≥1 publication in 2022 compared with 38% in 2010.

CONCLUSION

First-year ophthalmology resident publication productivity doubled from 2010-2016 to 2017-2022 suggesting a greater emphasis on scholarly work from medical trainees, a trend similar to that reported in other specialties.

Medical Student Research Activity in Otolaryngology

OBJECTIVE

To investigate medical student research productivity by institutions associated with otolaryngology residency programs and identify correlates of productivity.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective review.

SETTING

N/A.

METHODS

A systematic search for articles indexed on PubMed published by 116 programs from January 1, 2016 to February 28, 2021 was conducted. Primary outcomes were number of faculty publications, first-author medical student publications and medical students from each institution. Secondary outcomes included geographic region, number of otolaryngology faculty members, and program rankings.

RESULTS

Nationally, the mean number of faculty per institution was 21.7 at the time of search. Over a 5-year period, there was a mean 98.7 total publications and 15.8 medical student first-author publications per institution consisting of a mean of 10.03 distinct medical students. One-way analysis of variance showed no statistically significant difference in medical student productivity (P = .09) or department size (P = .12) between regions. Number of medical student first-author publications positively correlated to number of faculty (R = .43, P < .05) and number of faculty publications (R = .63, P < .05). The top 30 programs ranked by United States News & World Report or National Institute of Health for funding had a statistically significantly greater mean number of medical student first-author publications and distinct medical student first authors than all other programs (P < .05).

CONCLUSION

Greater numbers of faculty members likely provide more mentorship and opportunities that allow medical students to engage in projects that lead to first-author publications. These findings allow institutions to reflect on efforts in medical student engagement and provide data to students for career planning.

An Open-Source Curriculum to Teach Practical Academic Research Skills

Academic productivity is important for career advancement, yet not all trainees have access to structured research programs. Without formal teaching, acquiring practical skills for research can be challenging. A comprehensive research course that teaches practical skills to translate ideas into publications could accelerate trainees' productivity and liberate faculty mentors' time. We share our experience designing and teaching "A Practical Introduction to Academic Research", a course that teaches practical skills including building productive habits, recognizing common statistical pitfalls, writing cover letters, succinct manuscripts, responding to reviewers, and delivering effective presentations. We share open-source educational material used during the Winter 2022 iteration to facilitate curriculum adoption at peer institutions.

Building a Trainee-led Research Community to Propel Academic Productivity in Health Services Research

Academic productivity is an increasingly important asset for trainees pursuing academic careers. Medical schools and graduate medical education programs offer structured research programs, but providing longitudinal and individualized health services research education remains challenging. Whereas in basic science research, members at multiple training levels support each other within a dedicated community (the laboratory), health services research projects frequently occur within individual faculty-trainee relationships. An optimal match of expertise, availability, and interest may be elusive for an individual mentor-mentee pair. We aimed to share our experience building Surgeons Writing about Trauma (SWAT), a trainee-led research community that propels academic productivity by facilitating peer collaboration and opportunities to transition into independent researchers. We highlight challenges of health services research for trainees, present how structured mentorship and a peer community can address this challenge, and detail SWAT's operational structure to guide replication at peer institutions.

Diversity in Plastic Surgery Authorship: A 14-Year Analysis of 2688 Articles Published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

BACKGROUND

Publication in peer-reviewed journals is a duty and privilege. It is essential to the advancement of evidence-based medicine and often used as a proxy for academic achievement, contributing to decisions around promotion in academia. Within plastic surgery, authors have historically been male surgeons affiliated with academic institutions, lacking representation of women, private practice, medical students, and international collaboration. This study analyzes differences in authors' gender, practice affiliation, degree of education, and international collaboration in articles published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, which was chosen as the representative journal given its high impact factor (3.946) and consistent ranking as the number one journal in plastic surgery worldwide.

METHODS

A list of Breast, Cosmetic, and Hand/Peripheral Nerve articles published between 2006 and 2019 was compiled from the online archive of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Demographic author characteristics were recorded, and statistical analyses were performed to identify trends over time.

RESULTS

A total of 2688 articles were analyzed. The proportion of articles written by female authors in the Breast category, authors in private practice with academic affiliation in the Cosmetic section, and U.S. collaboration with other countries increased over time (p = 0.038, p = 0.029, p < 0.001, respectively). First authors with bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees have also been contributing increasingly.

CONCLUSIONS

This analysis revealed increasing demographic heterogeneity of authors in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery over time, with increasing contributions from women, surgeons in private practice with academic affiliation, medical students, and international collaborations. The Journal is capturing contributions from an increasingly diverse authorship, consistent with the changing demographics of plastic surgeons.

Knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceived barriers towards research in undergraduate medical students of six Arab countries

BACKGROUND

The involvement of the undergraduates in the research field requires a better view of their potential and the anticipated barriers facing them. This study aims to assess the undergraduates' knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceived barriers towards research in six Arab countries.

METHODS

A cross sectional study included medical students from six Arab countries, where a self-administered five-section questionnaire was used to assess the students' demographics, knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceived barriers. The questionnaire was distributed in the online educational platforms of the participating medical schools in the six included countries.

RESULTS

The total sample of recruited students was 2989, the majority of students (91.6%) showed poor level of knowledge regarding research. Generally high levels of positive attitudes towards research, research relevance and usefulness were found, with moderate levels of perception of research anxiety and difficulty. 33.7% (n = 1006) participated in an actual research project before with a mean of .5 publications per student. Cross-sectional studies were the most common type of studies conducted by students (38.6%), followed by case reports (23.9%). Lack of access to lab equipment for lab research (68.1%), the priority of education over research (66.8%), and lack of time because of educational tasks (66.1%) were generally the top perceived barriers towards research practice.

CONCLUSION

In the current study, the participants showed a poor knowledge level with associated positive attitudes towards research. One third of the students participated in research projects that mostly were cross-sectional studies and case reports. Educational tasks and lack of support were the most prevalent barriers. The students' positive attitudes towards research need to be translated into better knowledge and appropriate practice, which can be done by development of better training systems and more structured mentoring.

Development of a Surgical Research Program for Medical Students and its Short-Term Impact on Academic Productivity

OBJECTIVE

To describe the development and implementation of a mentored surgical research program for medical students and its short-term impact on academic productivity.

DESIGN

Description of an educational research program.

SETTING

University of Colorado School of Medicine.

PARTICIPANTS

Rising second-year medical students.

METHODS

We piloted an 8-week mentored surgical research program with an interactive curriculum that included lectures on fundamental research skills and conferences for early clinical exposure. Each student was paired with a faculty mentor and research project and provided weekly updates at faculty led work-in-progress meetings. Students who completed the program were provided with an end-of-program evaluation of their own learning. Follow-up at 3-months and 6-months post-program completion assessed continued research engagement and productivity.

RESULTS

Thirteen 1st year medical students completed the pilot program. Eleven (85%) students completed the end-of-program evaluation. All students felt the program was valuable to their future and helped develop their ability to investigate and solve new research questions. All students felt confident or very confident that they had the knowledge and resources to write and submit an abstract to a national meeting, and 10 (91%) felt similarly about writing a manuscript in the future. On 3-month follow-up, 11 (85%) of the 13 students were still engaged with their research labs; six (46%) had submitted an abstract to a national meeting, 3 (23%) of which were accepted for oral presentation. Two (15%) were in the process of drafting a manuscript; none had yet submitted one. At 6-month follow-up, 2 additional students had abstracts accepted for oral presentation. One student had submitted a manuscript, and 3 were in the process of drafting one.

CONCLUSIONS

Integrating research early into the medical school curriculum helps equip students with the fundamental skills needed for early academic achievement and may help establish success in academic careers.

Bibliometric Review of Medical Student Research Before Matching Integrated Vascular Surgery

BACKGROUND

Research output is one element of a multifactorial process that residency programs consider when evaluating applicants. However, there are minimal data assessing research productivity on admittance into research-oriented integrated vascular surgery residency (RO-IVSR) programs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of peer-reviewed research and the RO-IVSR match process.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Vascular surgery residents who matched into an RO-IVSR in 2015-2017 were divided into those matching an RO-IVSR top 10 program versus other. Total publications, first authorships, and type of research were compared between groups. Mann-Whitney U-tests were then performed between discrete levels of research productivity (0-1 versus ≥2 publications) to detect differences in ability to match a top 10 program.

RESULTS

One hundred and fifty-eight residents published a total of 214 original research articles (83%), 26 case reports (10%), and 19 systematic reviews (7%). There were 66 first authorships (25%). Median total publications at RO-IVSR top 10 versus other programs were 2 versus 1 (P < 0.01). Top 10 IVSR had a significant difference in median publications for all other research categories. The ability to match into a top 10 program by discrete levels of research productivity at 0-1 versus 2+ showed significance (P < 0.05) in all research categories, including total publications, first authorships, and H-index.

CONCLUSIONS

There was significantly higher research productivity among medical students who matriculate to top 10 IVSR programs. Furthermore, having 2 or more publications significantly increased the likelihood of attending a top 10 program. Thus, top programs likely use an applicants' research productivity as a distinct qualification category and a marker of future success.

Effect of Medical Student Contributions on Academic Productivity: Analysis of Student Authorship Over Time

INTRODUCTION

Understanding the trend of student authorship is crucial in determining its correlation to scholarly impact for corresponding authors. Our objective is to investigate student authorship rates over time in articles published in JAMA Internal Medicine (IM), as well as to examine potential effects student authors have on scholarly impact scores of corresponding authors via H-index measures.

METHODS

Authorship data including student authors (SA), first student authors, and corresponding authors (CA) from prior JAMA IM publications between 2010 and 2018 were collected, with a total of 701 studies. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent sample t-tests were performed to assess for differences in the mean by publishing year and student authorship, respectively.

RESULTS

Of 4591 total authors, 683 (14.9%) were considered student authors. The percentage of student authorship increased from 46.3% to 58.0% between 2010 and 2018, respectively. No difference in average H-indices of CA between SA and non-SA groups (overall NSA H_i mean: 30.2, vs SA H_i mean: 32.1, p=0.371) was noted.

DISCUSSION

Student participation in research is not a disadvantage to scholarly impact for corresponding authors. Increased student authorship reflects a promising trend towards greater student participation in research within the field of medicine.

Podiatric Medicine and Surgery Resident-Authored Publications in The Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery: A Systematic Review

Since its introduction into the medical community, the Podiatric Medicine and Surgery residency has strived to graduate the most advanced and learned foot and ankle surgeons. From increasing length of training, to assuring didactics and education are sufficiently incorporated into the residency, the Council on Podiatric Medical Education has overseen this transition. One area of interest, podiatric medicine and research, remains central to this training and contributes to the field of foot and ankle surgery through journal publications. The purpose of this review was to identify Podiatric Medicine and Surgery resident-authored publication rates, trends, and geographic distribution. All published case reports, original research articles, review articles, and tips, quips, and pearls in The Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery from January 2009 to December 2018 were reviewed. Podiatric Medicine and Surgery residents comprised 8% of all authors. Residents contributed to and published as first authors in 22% and 11% of all manuscripts, respectively. An increasing trend in resident authors, resident-authored manuscripts, and resident-first-authored manuscripts was observed. From before the mandated 3-year residency to after, the proportion of resident-authored manuscripts to all manuscripts declined from 9.99% to 7.21%; however, among these resident-authored publications, the rate of first-authorship increased from 45.32% to 51.36%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first and only study to examine publication rates among foot and ankle surgery residents.

Medical Students' Views on Implementing the Core EPAs: Recommendations From Student Leaders at the Core EPAs Pilot Institutions

In 2014, the Association of American Medical Colleges recruited 10 institutions across the United States to pilot the 13 Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency (Core EPAs). The goal was to establish a competency-based framework to prepare graduating medical students for the transition to residency. Within the Core EPAs pilot, medical students play an influential role in the development and implementation of EPA-related curricula. Student engagement was a priority for the Core EPAs institutions given students' roles as the end users of the curriculum, thus they may offer valuable insight into its design and implementation. Here, the authors provide the perspective of medical students who serve as leaders in the Core EPAs pilot at their respective institutions. They describe student leadership models across the pilot institutions as well as 6 key challenges to implementation of the Core EPAs: (1) How and when should the Core EPAs be introduced? (2) Who is responsible for driving the assessment process? (3) What feedback mechanisms are required? (4) What systems are required for advising, mentoring, or coaching students? (5) Should EPA performance contribute to students' grades? and (6) Should entrustment decisions be tied to graduation requirements? Using a polarity management framework to address each challenge, the authors describe inherent tensions, approaches used by the Core EPAs pilot institutions, and student-centered recommendations for resolving each tension. By sharing the experiences and perspectives of students engaged in the Core EPAs pilot, the authors hope to inform implementation of EPA-oriented assessment practices and feedback across institutions in the United States.

Supplements to increase trainee-authored publications pertaining to medical education: A graduate's viewpoint

Medical trainees (i.e., students and residents) provide relevantly insightful perspectives pertaining to their 'medical education' at both undergraduate (i.e., medical school) and graduate (i.e., residency training) levels. Therefore, promoting related trainee-authored publications about such matters is critically important. However, unfortunately, not many medical trainees are able to voice their important education-related research findings in peer-reviewed journals. 'Journal-level' proposals to increase trainees' scientific scholarship are always warranted. Herein, medical journals are called to play an innovative pivotal role in further promoting the desired trend of trainee-authored publications. To that end, periodically throughout the year, mainstream (general or education-focused) medical journals are encouraged to facilitate supplements entirely dedicated to trainee-authored research contributions in the field of 'medical education'. The grounds, dynamics, challenges and benefits of this supplement-based approach are discussed.