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What qualifies as research experience for Canadian medical schools?


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Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I was wondering if anyone knew what exactly qualifies as research to Canadian medical schools?

Like does it have to be research in a lab or clinical/medical based research where you are investigating something new and unknown?

The reason I ask is I have been given an opportunity to write research articles for a healthcare magazine at my university. Basically I would be conducting research on topics that I am interested in regarding medicine and health, and write articles, which are then edited and published. 

 The reason I am confused is because I the research I would be conducting would all be from the internet, books, or talking to people. I would not be conducting lab or clinical research, nor would this lead to publication in any peer reviewed journals or anything. 

Is this type of experience eligible to be included in the research section when applying to med school?

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I might be wrong but I personally don't think it qualifies as "research". Its more so journalism i guess? Either way, don't get caught up with trying to put something in the research section - it honestly won't make a difference for your application. This experience can be as valuable as a more traditional "research" experience no matter what heading you put it under. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Personally I think any research can be added to the research section, it's up to your discretion. Lots of people have volunteering in research labs in that section for example, which technically isn't "peer reviewed research" either. As premed72 said, the categories are kind of arbitrary anyways and it really doesn't matter what section you put it in, the reviewers will be able to read it and decide themselves if they consider it research or not

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30 minutes ago, Psych said:

Lots of people have volunteering in research labs in that section for example, which technically isn't "peer reviewed research" either.

In theory it's contributing to a project that one assumes would end up as peer-reviewed research. Posters are considered "peer reviewed" if you present them. If I worked in a company's R&D department improving their widgets, unless we published a white paper or journal article, I couldn't call it research.

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17 minutes ago, bearded frog said:

In theory it's contributing to a project that one assumes would end up as peer-reviewed research. Posters are considered "peer reviewed" if you present them. If I worked in a company's R&D department improving their widgets, unless we published a white paper or journal article, I couldn't call it research.

I do agree with you, I just think for OMSAS at least the categories are pretty arbitrary and it probably doesn't matter what section they put it in. There are obviously some examples that are clearly not research, but personally I think writing research articles could count as research (even if it's not peer-reviewed). And if a school doesn't agree, they can still make that determination themselves just from reading the ABS

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