Perception Of Student Publications

[btdubs]

I'm currently in my pre-clerkship and am finishing up a final project for an elective. I decided to do a case writeup, and where I'm already pouring a decent amount of effort into this, I have been playing with the thought of trying to publish it. My preceptor and I have both decided that this case likely isn't novel enough to warrant a publication in a major journal, but it is a great learning case for the sake of its complexity and multiple presentations. So, she suggested structuring it as an anatomy/pathophysiology learning case intended for medical students, and submitting it to my school's student-run journal. 

 

While I like the idea, I would like some input as to how publications in student journals are perceived once CaRMS rolls around. I imagine that any publication is probably better than no publication, but I feel fairly out of my depth here and wanted to make sure that there isn't some unspoken rule I'm unaware of. Is there a risk of appearing "cheap" by publishing in this manner, or am I just really overthinking this?

 

Any input is appreciated!

[Bambi]

I've never given this matter any consideration before. I do think you are overthinking it, the experience it seems to me makes it worthwhile whether you are published in a student journal or not, and if so published, so much the better. BTW, I was published in my field of interest, I applied for a residency spot, got an interview and was not selected. I was a competitive candidate as were all other interviewees and my publication made no impact. If you have the interest and the time, I would go for it for the experience.

[FeelingTheBern]

I would try sending it to a Canadian journal in the clinical specialty that the case report is about. It never hurts to shoot for the stars... The worst thing that happens is that you get rejected then you can carry on with the student run journal.

But remember that once the manuscript gets accepted into a journal it can't be republished in another publishing company (i.e. you can't publish a study in JAMA and then submit it in the future to The Lancet).

Shoot for the moon! Get a few other faculty members to read it over and edit it. Sometimes it's not even about the case report/study it self, but how it is written and who the other authors on the paper are.

Best of luck!
- Bern

[Lactic Folly]

I would try sending it to a Canadian journal in the clinical specialty that the case report is about. It never hurts to shoot for the stars... The worst thing that happens is that you get rejected then you can carry on with the student run journal.

 

+1. Sometimes major journals have sections for teaching cases as well, or may have online-only features of this nature.

[bentobox1234]

I've never given this matter any consideration before. I do think you are overthinking it, the experience it seems to me makes it worthwhile whether you are published in a student journal or not, and if so published, so much the better. BTW, I was published in my field of interest, I applied for a residency spot, got an interview and was not selected. I was a competitive candidate as were all other interviewees and my publication made no impact. If you have the interest and the time, I would go for it for the experience.

Or your province's medical review.  If you have some time to send it around before CaRMS I would try.

[Riskbreaker]

I would absolutely consider your school's medical journal as an option.

 

In general, case reports are difficult to publish in major journals because they receive so many submissions and true novelty is rare. That being said, there are many middle and lower tier journals that more readily accept case reports, and may have specialty sections you can tailor your work towards (i.e. diagnosis, imaging, etc.). Lastly, there's been a proliferation of open access journals that accept nearly everything, although they tend to ask for a hefty up-front fee and many are not indexed.

 

Because you're in pre-clerkship, you have the relative luxury of time. What I mean is that you can submit to a mid-tier journal, and if rejected the reviewers commonly give constructive feedback on how to improve your work. With an improved publication, you could aim for another mid-tier journal before considering other avenues.

 

However, there is absolutely no reason to not consider your institution's medical journal. The fact that you put in the effort to review, write and publish an article reflects well on your work ethic as well as future productivity. Student-run journals are neither indexed (with few exceptions) or peer-reviewed, but everybody has to start somewhere. And, in truth, interviewers care very little regarding how much research you've done or where it was published; your electives and interview count for much more.

[W0lfgang]

Exhaust the peer review options before settling for the student-run journal, however low-impact they may be.