shady Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 I'm being offered a great opportunity to do research in the next 8-12 months (it will be concurrent with my studies as we don't have summers at Mac), and there are a number of projects to choose from. They are all in Radiology (which I am 90% sure is what I want to do). I'm debating between writing a review paper which sounds easier, or doing a project. Pros for the former are shorter time commitment and faster project in general from start to paper submission, while the latter is actual research involving discovering new knowledge. I'm leaning towards writing a review paper, but my worry is how this will be viewed for CaRMS. Wouldn't a review paper be considered of lower value than a primary research manuscript? However, since I am still in first year, I'm thinking I should go with the review and if I decide to stick to Radiology then I can always do another primary research study. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavrik13 Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 All else being equal, my advice would be to take the review project. As long as you put in the work, you are guaranteed to get a publication out of it. With primary research, so many things can go wrong that are outside of your control which can result in weeks/months of work going down the toilet (guess how I know how). You should consider the track record of the person/people you will be working with (do they get a lot published, are they available for support, etc). You should consider your personal interest in the research too - having research is always nice, but if you are excited about it, and can convey that enthusiasm to someone who is interviewing you, that is far better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Questions to consider: - Is this an invited review article? Is publication guaranteed? - For the research project, has ethics approval been obtained? Is it a type of study in which the imaging data are already there, only needing you to retrieve them? That can make things much simpler. As you are in first year, you'd likely be able to get at least a presentation out of the project, if not a publication. - Can you kill two birds with one stone, and do a review paper on the same topic as the research project? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shady Posted February 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Thanks for the responses! I think I'm leaning towards the review just because it's simpler Questions to consider:- Is this an invited review article? Is publication guaranteed? - For the research project, has ethics approval been obtained? Is it a type of study in which the imaging data are already there, only needing you to retrieve them? That can make things much simpler. As you are in first year, you'd likely be able to get at least a presentation out of the project, if not a publication. - Can you kill two birds with one stone, and do a review paper on the same topic as the research project? Lactic, I don't know if it's an invited article and honestly I doubt it. For the research, no one has applied for REB approval yet so that will take a while, but it is a retrospective study and all the images are there so that should make things a little easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bede Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 I'd do both. A review paper is a great way to get to know the subject matter. However, reviews don't actually develop your skills as an investigator- they're more like a glorified UG essay. There is no way to develop your investigation skills like designing, conducting and writing up your experiments. Reviews are easy to publish and everyone knows this. If it doesn't get into a decent journal, there will always be some Chinese journal that publishes it. Usually the names of these journals start with "International" conjugated with the name of a reputable journal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shady Posted February 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 I'd do both. A review paper is a great way to get to know the subject matter. However, reviews don't actually develop your skills as an investigator- they're more like a glorified UG essay. There is no way to develop your investigation skills like designing, conducting and writing up your experiments. Reviews are easy to publish and everyone knows this. If it doesn't get into a decent journal, there will always be some Chinese journal that publishes it. Usually the names of these journals start with "International" conjugated with the name of a reputable journal. hehe ... that's probably true! I can't really do both; not at this time at least. But I feel like the review is a good start and will hopefully be done in 6-8 months, after which I could move on to a primary study Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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