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Some residency applicants misrepresent published works as their own
■ Researchers recommend that residency directors ask applicants to share copies of their published articles for verification.
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Some medical school graduates competing for coveted residency positions misrepresent themselves in their applications by plagiarizing, or falsifying published research or education credits.
"There's been an awareness for several years that, unfortunately, not everything you read on an application is completely derived by the applicant or necessarily [accurate]," said Henry Sondheimer, MD, senior director for student affairs and student programs at the Assn. of American Medical Colleges.
Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock wanted to see how pervasive the problem was. They looked at how often ophthalmology residency applicants to the university's Jones Eye Institute falsified publication credits.
They reviewed 821 applications submitted between Oct. 10, 2000, and Dec. 1, 2004. Fifteen applicants, or 8.1%, misrepresented published articles, according to the study in the July Archives of Ophthalmology.
Among the falsifiers, 50% elevated their name on the author list, 25% omitted another author, 12.5% reported nonexistent articles and 12.5% took credit for articles they had no part in writing. It's impossible to tell if the applicants' actions were due to carelessness, innocent misunderstandings or deception, the study said.
"We should not be surprised to learn that willful misrepresentation occurs at some level, as the risks of detection are low and the rewards of a residency position are high," the study said.
Study author Michael Wiggins, MD, said the low incidence rate shows that most applicants have high ethical standards.
To stem falsification of published research, the study recommends that program directors ask applicants invited for interviews first to forward copies of their published articles. That's what the Jones Eye Institute started doing in 2009.
Articles then can be verified and used for discussion, said Dr. Wiggins, associate professor of ophthalmology and associate residency program director at the eye institute.
"There's really no downside that we can see," he said. "It's very easy. It's no extra work on us. We see that as something else that the interviewer can talk about with the interviewee."
The study also found that some applicants reported abstracts as published articles, but such cases weren't counted as misrepresentation after the institute's ethics panel deemed that applicants aren't told to make the distinction.