Misrepresentation of Research Publications Among Emergency Medicine Residency ApplicantsGurudevan & Mower☆,☆☆,★
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INTRODUCTION
Misrepresentation of professional credentials can be a problem in the medical community. At the University of Pittsburgh, Sekas and Hutson1 examined applications to the gastroenterology fellowship program and found that misrepresentation of publications among applicants was disturbingly common. Authorship is often seen by both residency program administrators and applicants as a positive attribute. However, misrepresentation by applicants can constitute serious scientific misconduct and may be
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We reviewed all applications to the UCLA Emergency Medicine program for the entering classes of 1995 and 1996. We recorded demographic data for each applicant and examined the curriculum vitae, noting whether the applicant claimed authorship of any scientific publication, including books, abstracts, and journal articles. We then determined whether each publication cited was genuine or misrepresented.
Periodical publications were verified on the basis of (1) a copy of the publication enclosed
RESULTS
Of the 350 applications to the UCLA Emergency Medicine Residency Program, 276 publications were cited on 113 (32.3%). Of the 113 applicants, 23 had misrepresented citations, constituting 20.4% of the individuals who cited publications and 6.6% of the overall applicant pool.
Of the 276 citations, 44 (15.9%) were misrepresentations and 67 (24.3%) were listed as submitted. Only four (6.0%) of the citations listed as submitted were actually published or cited in a database in the next 12 months. We
DISCUSSION
Our careful review of the applications to the UCLA emergency medicine program showed that misrepresentation extends to emergency medicine residency programs.
Misrepresentation was more common among applicants with more than five total citations, confirming our original hypothesis that the rate of misrepresentation among applicants would increase as the number of citations increased.
Although cases of individuals with large curricula vitae and misrepresented publications have been described3, 4,
References (6)
- et al.
Misrepresentation of academic accomplishments by applicants for gastroenterology fellowships
Ann Intern Med
(1995) Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory
(1994)- et al.
Misrepresentation and responsibility in medical research
N Engl J Med
(1987)
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2019, American Journal of SurgeryCitation Excerpt :However, this process might, in some cases, be compromised by applicants who misreport their scholarly achievements. Misrepresentation is a well-documented problem among medical residency applicants in both highly competitive specialties as well as in less contestable fields.1–7 Residency programs must typically screen a large number of applications for a limited number of positions, and many of the applications list scientific publications and other academic achievements.
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From the University of California-Los Angeles Emergency Medicine Center* and School of Medicine‡, Los Angeles, California; and the New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York.§
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Address for reprints: William R Mower, MD, UCLA Emergency Medicine Center, 924 Westwood Boulevard, Suite 300, Los Angeles, California 90024, 310-825-7209, Fax 310-794-9747
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Reprint no.47/1/70991