James kingston Posted January 4, 2020 Report Share Posted January 4, 2020 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neurophilic Posted January 4, 2020 Report Share Posted January 4, 2020 2 hours ago, James kingston said: Hello! What exactly is the importance of a 1st author publication during undergrad years? will it make or break an application/give you a big edge? For context, I currently have a couple of co-authorships. Would love to hear yall's take on this I don't believe it will by any means make or break an application. Will it make you look good? Yes. I would say you've definitely displayed a potential for scholarly activities with your co-authorships. There are many more matriculants that don't even have a single authorship. Don't go crazy trying to get that 1st author pub, rather I'd continue to seek opportunities to remain involved in research. Best bang for your buck. GL. James kingston 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panerai Posted January 4, 2020 Report Share Posted January 4, 2020 100% does not matter at all James kingston 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James kingston Posted January 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptors905 Posted January 5, 2020 Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 1 hour ago, James kingston said: what's your theory behind that, if you don't mind me asking? GPA > 1st author James kingston 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyridoxal-phosphate Posted January 5, 2020 Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 On 1/4/2020 at 7:12 PM, Raptors905 said: GPA > 1st author xx James kingston and DrOtter 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panerai Posted January 5, 2020 Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 Hey James, I was basically going to write what pyradoxal-phosphate wrote. The only time it mattered was when U of T required a grad applicant to have a first author pub prior to the application deadline in order to be placed in the grad pool. But that was recently removed from requirments. GPA and MCAT are the real deals at first. And then it's about being able to write and talk about your experiences. A "big edge" can come from all avenues and they are usually about things you love and enjoy doing. With your particular case, I think your research accomplishments are awesome as is and I dont think you need to stress hard about getting that first authorship. I am only an applicant as of now, but I know many people who got in here in Canada without any publications or even research in general. Cheers James kingston 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meridian Posted January 5, 2020 Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 Achieving a first author in a publication like Nature is a big thing in the science world. That is near impossible as an undergrad. Being included as an author in publications shows your sustained involvement in research. Good on you if you can achieve it in Undergrad. Publication is not a requirement for medical school applications, It is however a way to stand out and maybe have your application ranked higher by the human reviewers. James kingston and Panerai 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X Æ A-12 Posted January 5, 2020 Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 3 hours ago, Meridian said: Achieving a first author in a publication like Nature is a big thing in the science world. That is near impossible as an undergrad. Having a first author paper in Nature/Lancet/NEJM/etc. is IMPOSSIBLE as an undergraduate - most of those papers have 20 authors minimum and span multiple centres. I challenge anyone to find me a top impact journal article with an undergrad first author just for the fun of it Panerai, LostLamb and James kingston 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James kingston Posted January 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tullius Posted January 5, 2020 Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 Out of curiosity, what makes you think all journals below Nature/Lancet/NEJM would be treated equal? I would not think a publication in something like Annals of Internal Medicine or Circulation would be looked at the same as a publication in Canadian Medical Education Journal. Nor would CMAJ or other middling journals that the admissions committee has heard of possibly reviews for, publishes in, or at least occasionally reads. At my institution at least, the dean of admissions is open about the fact that impact factors matter to them when they are looking at applicants' publications. James kingston 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James kingston Posted January 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tullius Posted January 6, 2020 Report Share Posted January 6, 2020 I'm not on the admissions committee so I don't know for sure. My personal opinion/speculation is: The committee will notice if your work is in a journal that is read and respected by academic clinicians, and this will be valued much more than a publication in a low journal they have never heard of. So there's likely a correlation with impact factor, but that's not the only factor. A top specialty journal may be impact factor of 3 but extremely difficult to get into and is a major accomplishment for senior residents to publish there because it is the best in the specialty. And a generalist journal like CMAJ (7) which is not a top journal in general medicine may carry more weight than it should because of name recognition in Canada. Also, I doubt any of this applies to getting into the top journal of plankton, or entomology, or whatever non-medicine journals premeds are publishing in these days since most people in admissions haven't heard of them. My .02 James kingston 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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