Which Looks Better: Brief Report Vs Full Publication? Applying For Residency..

[Life_Sci_Guy]

Is a regular publication better than a brief report, in terms of applying for residency?

 

My supervisor wants me to write a brief report, but I feel like I have enough info for a full publication, so why would I want to do that? Is there any advantage to it?

 

 

Thanks!

[Lactic Folly]

Ask your supervisor. Maybe they don't think there is enough for a full publication?

[Bambi]

I was published while in med school. It did not help at CaRMS.

[hamham]

I was published while in med school. It did not help at CaRMS.

Don't mean to interrupt, but how do you know it did not help?

[Bambi]

Well, I got that interview, which I know was b/c of my Motivational Letter and LORs, I handled the interview well but did not receive the offer, lol! I was qualified as were all the interviewees. I also had additional research. I will send you a PM.

[JessieMed]

Well, I got that interview, which I know was b/c of my Motivational Letter and LORs, I handled the interview well but did not receive the offer, lol! I was qualified as were all the interviewees. I also had additional research. I will send you a PM.

Also interested in knowing why if you don't find me too nosy

[Bambi]

I have no idea.  I too would like to know. However, it matters little now as I was accepted into another surgical residency that I know that I will enjoy as a career! It is always best to be flexible and to apply to more than one field. Jessie, I do not find you nosy at all.   Curiosity for us all is actually very healthy.

[ralk]

To clarify, every program looks at and values research differently. Some won't look at it at all, and the odd one will virtually insist on having some research experience. How valuable research will be depends ultimately on what specialty you're looking at and which programs within that specialty you'd prefer to match to.

 

From conversations with PDs, the most common arrangement seems to be that research is a small, but non-trivial factor in the selection process, whether pre-interview or post-interview. That is, if you have poor LORs or a bad interview, it won't make any difference, but if you're an otherwise good candidate, it may matter when you're stacked up against other good candidates.

 

How much individual elements of research are valued also differs from program to program. Some programs are happy with simply being meaningfully involved in a research project in any field, even if it never led to a presentation or publication - anything beyond that won't help much at all. Others do give the extra credit for publications, particularly in their field.

 

For the OP - if you really don't have the ability to write a full paper, there's nothing wrong with a brief report. A paper is probably better, but it'll likely be a marginal difference at the vast majority of programs, if it matters at all. Talk with your supervisor, try to understand why they'd rather do a brief report, and go from there.

[osteon]

In my opinion, there are 2 things to consider.

 

1. On a CV, you wouldn't list something as "brief report" or "full publication." You'd just put the reference. So in that case, who cares? Publication is a publication and no one is likely to know the difference unless they specifically look up that paper.

 

2. A brief report doesn't necessarily mean less data, or lower quality. For instance, a study could be published in a specialty journal as a full paper, or as a brief report in a higher impact, more general journal. Or, maybe you have great data, but just don't need 4000 words to talk about it and so do a brief report. All depends on how data is packaged, not necessarily the data quality or quantity, which again leads to point #1 above.