Realistic Assessment of Research Publications by Neurosurgery Residency Applicants

Neurosurgical residency applicants' prior research experience can amplify their ability to stand out to prospective neurosurgery programs. We attempted to accurately quantify the number of research publications coauthored by applicants by analyzing the publications of applicants who matched into neurosurgery in the 2021 Match.

Scopus, a peer-reviewed literature database, was queried for publications by applicants who matched into neurosurgery in the 2021 Match before the finalization of rank lists. Conference papers, abstracts, and book chapters were excluded to determine an accurate average of actual publications. Descriptive statistics for resident publication data were used, with a Mann-Whitney U test used to compare research productivity between male and female residents.

There were 234 positions filled by the 2021 Match, and 233 neurosurgical residents were identifiable in this study. A total of 187 residents matching from U.S. Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine programs were identified with 946 total publications-an average of 5.1 publications per resident. Analysis of descriptive statistics revealed type of research conducted, authorship information, most published journals, and citation data. Significant differences were found in the number of publications between male and female applicants with averages of 5.6 and 3.8 publications, respectively.

Students matriculating to neurosurgery residency programs display a wide range of research productivity. Typical U.S. Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine applicants have coauthored a mean of 5.1 and a median of 4.0 publications. This information may assist program directors in weighing applicants' research background and give medical students interested in the field reasonable research expectations.