Ernst Jennafir, Baratz Mark E, Fowler John R
West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA.
J Hand Surg Glob Online. 2023 Sep 29;6(1):43-45. doi: 10.1016/j.jhsg.2023.08.010. eCollection 2024 Jan.
Obtaining a hand surgery fellowship is becoming increasingly competitive, and research is an important factor when assessing applications. Given the competitive nature of the fellowship application process, applicants may feel the need to bolster their application by misrepresenting their research experience. One form of misrepresentation rarely discussed in prior studies is the listing of submitted works under a "Publications" heading in curricula vitae. This study examines the prevalence of misclassification of manuscripts by applicants to a hand surgery fellowship and identifies factors that might be associated with incorrect classification.
A retrospective review of 122 applicants to the 2020-2021 cycle for hand surgery fellowship was performed. Names and identifiable information were redacted prior to review. Demographic data collected included sex, United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 score, medical school rank, residency specialty, total publications, presence of submitted manuscripts in the "Publications" section, total number of submitted manuscripts, and total published abstracts and poster presentations.
A total of 1,098 listed publications across the 122 applicants were reviewed with a median of five publications per applicant. Submitted manuscripts were listed as publications by 33 applicants (27%). No observable differences by age, United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 score, or total number of publications were seen. Misclassification rates were not associated with publication totals.
More than one-quarter of applicants incorrectly listed submitted or unaccepted manuscripts as publications. It is our hope that making fellowship applicants aware of this issue will decrease the rates of misrepresentation in future application cycles.
The competition for hand surgery fellowships has become more intense, and this may explain our finding that 27% of applicants misrepresent the status of research on hand surgery fellowship applications.
获得手外科 fellowship 越来越具有竞争力，而研究是评估申请时的一个重要因素。鉴于 fellowship 申请过程的竞争性，申请人可能觉得有必要通过歪曲自己的研究经历来增强申请优势。一种在以往研究中很少被讨论的歪曲形式是在简历的“出版物”标题下列出已提交的作品。本研究调查了手外科 fellowship 申请人对手稿错误分类的发生率，并确定可能与错误分类相关的因素。
对 2020 - 2021 年手外科 fellowship 申请周期的 122 名申请人进行回顾性研究。在审查之前对姓名和可识别信息进行了编辑。收集的人口统计学数据包括性别、美国医学执照考试第一步成绩、医学院排名、住院医师专业、总出版物数量、“出版物”部分中已提交手稿的情况、已提交手稿的总数以及已发表的摘要和海报展示数量。
对 122 名申请人列出的总共 1098 篇出版物进行了审查，每位申请人的出版物中位数为 5 篇。33 名申请人（27%）将已提交的手稿列为出版物。在年龄、美国医学执照考试第一步成绩或出版物总数方面未观察到差异。错误分类率与出版物总数无关。
超过四分之一的申请人将已提交或未被接受的手稿错误地列为出版物。我们希望让 fellowship 申请人意识到这个问题将降低未来申请周期中歪曲事实的发生率。
手外科 fellowship 的竞争变得更加激烈，这可能解释了我们的发现，即 27%的申请人在手部手术 fellowship 申请中歪曲研究状况。
