INTRODUCTION

Since the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 shifted to a Pass/Fail scoring system, increased emphasis has been placed on research output. Medical students choosing to pursue competitive residencies have contributed to research at a higher rate than ever before. Despite this, many medical students may feel uncomfortable leading the effort to widely communicate the results of a project.

METHODS

A quantitative survey-based study was performed to investigate the medical student research landscape at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson (UACOM-T). Our team surveyed the medical student body on their familiarity and comfort with the publishing process, invited the full student body to attend an optional student-led interactive session on the topic, and surveyed attendees of this lecture to assess for any changes in comfort or attitudes.

RESULTS

A total of 71 medical students completed the pre-session survey, 24 medical students attended the lecture, and 23 medical students completed the post-session survey. Most survey respondents were actively involved in research while in medical school, equal to their involvement prior to matriculation into medical school. Most survey respondents were not comfortable with academic publishing or identifying a predatory journal prior to attending the supplemental educational lecture on academic publishing, which increased their comfort on these topics.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, most study participants were actively involved in research and were at baseline not comfortable with the academic publishing process. Attending a supplemental student-led interactive lecture on academic publishing increased medical student attendees' comfort in being able to identify a fake or predatory journal and increased their overall comfort in the academic publishing process. Similar interactive lectures can help bridge the gap in medical students' understanding of topics in academic publishing.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-024-02278-4.