Examining research productivity in medical school and dermatology residency: a cross-sectional study

Research productivity is one criterion used by residency programs to evaluate the academic qualifications of prospective applicants. Our objective was to examine individuals’ research productivity in dermatology residency compared to medical school. A cohort of dermatology residents who graduated from an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) certified Dermatology program in 2019 or 2020. An author search was conducted to identify author publications. Author number, journal name, impact factor, study type, and publication date were collected. Publications were characterized as pre-residency publications (PRPs) if published during intern year, medical school graduating year, or the year before graduating year. Publications were residency publications (RPs) if published during residency. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the average number of PRPs and RPs between individuals. Secondary outcomes were compared using chi-square and t-tests. 55159 publications were collected. There was no difference in mean number of PRPs and RPs. However, PRPs were more likely to be first author publications and RPs were more likely to be case reports. Both PRPs and RPs were generally published in the same journals. The differences in PRPs and RPs may stem from changes in mentorship/sponsorship roles during training. Our findings add to the literature on PRPs. Future research should examine continued trends of publications in residency and fellowship.