UCSF

Purpose

To evaluate research listed as "Submitted" on orthopaedic surgery residency applications for eventual publication rates and quality.

Significance

As the orthopaedic surgery residency selection process becomes increasingly competitive, the number of research publications listed on applications continually increases. However, the utility of using publications listed as "Submitted" in the applicant evaluation process remains unknown.

Methods

Demographic and publication data were retrospectively collected from 1303 applications to an orthopaedic surgery residency program. The PubMed database was used to verify "Submitted" publications for (1) publication fruition or (2) publication mismatch, defined as discordance between the listed journal of submission and the eventual journal of publication.

Results

A total of 594 applications (45.6%) listed ≥1 publication as "Submitted." Out of 1636 "Submitted" publications, 565 were unverifiable (32.5%). Of the 1071 verified publications, 362 (33.8%) experienced publication mismatch. Within this subgroup, a significant difference existed between the mean impact factors of the listed journal of submission and the eventual journal of publication (1.5 ± 2.7 versus 3.0 ± 2.5, P < 0.01). Demographic data were not predictive of having an unverified publication.

Conclusion

Publications listed as "Submitted" in orthopaedic surgery residency applications frequently remain unpublished or are published in less impactful journals than originally intended.