Characterization and Fate of Unpublished Research Articles Reported by Orthopedic Surgery Residency Applicants

Abstract

As the competitiveness of matching to an orthopedic residency continues to increase, applicants attempt to bolster their application by participating in research activities. However, due to the brief duration of medical school, applicants' articles may not be published at the time of applying. The purpose of this study was to identify projects that were listed under "publications-other than published" within Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS) applications of prospective orthopedic surgery residents to determine the rate and time of these projects to future publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Program directors can use this information to help interpret the importance of such articles on the applications of future residency candidates. Retrospective study of prospective residents' applications to a single orthopedic residency program during the 2014 to 2015 application cycle were reviewed to identify articles designated as "other than published." Articles which advanced to official publication were confirmed using the Embase, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. Applicant and article characteristics were recorded to identify variables associated with an increased proportion of articles that were able to be confirmed. Prospective residents to a single orthopedic residency program during the 2014 to 2015 application cycle. A total of 1957 article titles were listed amongst 563 applicants, with 48% of applicants (n = 271) having at least one peer-reviewed article listed as "other than published." Overall, 34.2% (709) of the articles were designated as being unpublished including 208 listed as accepted/in-press and 501 listed as submitted/under review. Of the accepted/in-press articles, 90.7% (n = 189) were able to be confirmed as successfully published papers, compared to 63.4% (n = 318) of articles designated as submitted/under review (p < 0.001). Factors predictive of articles which advanced to official publication were being accepted/in-press at the time of applying, a lower United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 score, and articles on orthopedic topics. Nearly one-half of orthopedic residency applicants report unpublished research articles on their ERAS application. While 90.7% of the articles listed as being accepted/ in press were eventually published, less than two-thirds of the articles designated as being in submission/under-review progressed to official publication.