Association Between Experienced Mentorship and Successful Publication of PGY1 Resident Research at an Academic Medical Center

Abstract

Purpose: ASHP Residency Standards consider research an important component of residency training. Publication of these projects is considered the gold standard for high quality research; however, residency research publication rates are low, with most reports suggesting less than 12% of projects are successfully published. This study reviewed post-graduate year one (PGY1) research projects to evaluate the role of mentorship in successful publication in peer-reviewed journals. Summary: This was a single-center, observational study of PGY1 research projects between 2010 and 2022 to assess mentorship’s association with publication rate. Successful publication was confirmed via a PubMed search conducted through October 2022. Of 53 included PGY1 research projects, 18 projects (34%) were published, with 12 as manuscript publications and 6 as published abstracts. Projects with mentors with ≥3 publications and with mentors with ≥1 first author publications were associated with higher rates of full publications (excluding projects that were published in abstract form only) (50.0% vs 8.6%, p < 0.001; 37% vs 7.7%, p = 0.001). Faculty member participation also increased manuscript publication (63.6% vs 11.9%, p = 0.008). Publication of PGY1 projects was associated with higher rates of future publications (median 5 vs 1, p < .001). Conclusions: The presence of experienced mentors was associated with successful publication, and publishing a residency project was associated with future publications. New practitioners interested in precepting research projects may benefit from the inclusion of mentors with previous publication experience to support resident research projects.