unpublished case reports

[jmw38]

I've already asked about this on the general ERAS forums but I thought I'd ask for the opinion of some derm people.

I have some unpublished, unsubmitted articles - reviews and case reports. They're just pending busy faculty and residents who haven't had time to submit them yet. One in particular I finished several months ago. Anyway, I know I can't list them as publications on ERAS, but I was wondering about listing them as research experiences.

It just seems weird to me to call it a "research experience" when all I did was write up a case report or write a review article. But I really would like to include them somehow on my application, as I spent quite a bit of time on them and don't have many other publications. I just wonder if it will look like "upselling" or look like I'm trying to pad my CV - I'm really just trying to show I've spent time on this stuff.

Also, I would wait to submit ERAS, but I really don't know if/don't think anything about the status of these papers will change in the next couple of weeks, so I may be waiting around for nothing.

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[CWWinning]

An unpublished case report makes good toilet paper, but trying to squeeze a "research experience" out of it will be a tough sell.

 

[dermathalon]

I've already asked about this on the general ERAS forums but I thought I'd ask for the opinion of some derm people.

I have some unpublished, unsubmitted articles - reviews and case reports. They're just pending busy faculty and residents who haven't had time to submit them yet. One in particular I finished several months ago. Anyway, I know I can't list them as publications on ERAS, but I was wondering about listing them as research experiences.

It just seems weird to me to call it a "research experience" when all I did was write up a case report or write a review article. But I really would like to include them somehow on my application, as I spent quite a bit of time on them and don't have many other publications. I just wonder if it will look like "upselling" or look like I'm trying to pad my CV - I'm really just trying to show I've spent time on this stuff.

Also, I would wait to submit ERAS, but I really don't know if/don't think anything about the status of these papers will change in the next couple of weeks, so I may be waiting around for nothing.

This is unfortunate. Residents and attendings can quickly forget how important this is to you guys. I'm sorry to hear about this. Unpublished case reports can be better than toilet paper but only if it gave you a chance to interact directly with a faculty member that helped you develop a connection. This is an important reason to do case reports apart from the publication that may come out of it.

Have you been able to check in with the resident? Was the resident a nice person and easy to work with. If so, you could send them a message to let them know that you would like to include it on your application. If they were a difficult resident (yes unfortunately there are some that are hard to work with) then that's going to be a lot tougher and you might send a note to the attending on the case report and sneak in the question while you are following up regarding a letter of rec or something like that. Otherwise, it's hard for you...

 

[jmw38]

This is unfortunate. Residents and attendings can quickly forget how important this is to you guys. I'm sorry to hear about this. Unpublished case reports can be better than toilet paper but only if it gave you a chance to interact directly with a faculty member that helped you develop a connection. This is an important reason to do case reports apart from the publication that may come out of it.

Have you been able to check in with the resident? Was the resident a nice person and easy to work with. If so, you could send them a message to let them know that you would like to include it on your application. If they were a difficult resident (yes unfortunately there are some that are hard to work with) then that's going to be a lot tougher and you might send a note to the attending on the case report and sneak in the question while you are following up regarding a letter of rec or something like that. Otherwise, it's hard for you...

Thanks for your reply/sympathy I ended up submitting without the paper. I sent several emails to the resident (I was on away rotation at the time so could not speak face to face), and she sent several emails to the faculty, which went unanswered. Finally the resident just told me to contact the faculty myself (tired of being the middle man I think), which I did, and that went wholly unanswered as well. I suspect the faculty is busy and just does not want to think about it at this time.

I ended up putting it on my application as a "research experience" (despite my concerns over this) at the advice of some residents. I voiced my concern being "upselling," but they said that everyone else was going to upsell so I might as well, and just to be sure that I clearly stated in the description that I was only talking about a paper/case report. I really just wanted a way to note on my application somewhere that I had worked on these things, so hopefully it will not look negative.

It is all behind me now as the app is submitted. Unfortunately despite waiting 2 weeks my application was no different at 2 weeks than it was on September 1, but hopefully the 2 week delay does not affect things much. Maybe one day it will get published

 

[dermathalon]

Thanks for your reply/sympathy I ended up submitting without the paper. I sent several emails to the resident (I was on away rotation at the time so could not speak face to face), and she sent several emails to the faculty, which went unanswered. Finally the resident just told me to contact the faculty myself (tired of being the middle man I think), which I did, and that went wholly unanswered as well. I suspect the faculty is busy and just does not want to think about it at this time.

I ended up putting it on my application as a "research experience" (despite my concerns over this) at the advice of some residents. I voiced my concern being "upselling," but they said that everyone else was going to upsell so I might as well, and just to be sure that I clearly stated in the description that I was only talking about a paper/case report. I really just wanted a way to note on my application somewhere that I had worked on these things, so hopefully it will not look negative.

It is all behind me now as the app is submitted. Unfortunately despite waiting 2 weeks my application was no different at 2 weeks than it was on September 1, but hopefully the 2 week delay does not affect things much. Maybe one day it will get published

A 2 week wait will not change much. Don't worry about that except that you will get your prelim/transitional interview invites later than others. I agree with the advice given to you by the other residents too BTW. If you are clear that it was a paper then this is reasonable.