Misrepresentation of research criteria by orthopaedic residency applicants

Background: Previous studies have shown that applicants for postgraduate tr aining may misrepresent research citations. We evaluated the research citat ions that mere identified in a review of the Publications and Work and Rese arch sections from the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) data for all applicants to our orthopaedic residency program for the 1998 to 19 99 academic gear. Methods: The citations were searched for on Medline. We initially used the name of the first author, then the name of the applicant, the name of the j ournal, the volume number, the issue number, and the page numbers, When a j ournal was not listed in Medline, an interlibrary search was instituted wit h use of the same format. When no match was made for any category, the cita tion was defined as misrepresented. Point estimates are reported as percent ages. Results: Publications were listed on sixty-four (30.0 percent) of 213 appli cations. One hundred and thirty-eight publications were cited; there were f ifteen citations (10.9 percent) to book chapters, twenty-sis (18.8 percent) to journals not listed in Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory, an d twenty-one (15.2 percent) to articles listed as in press, in print, or su bmitted for publication. Seventy-sis articles that had been cited as appear ing in journals listed in Ulrich's Directory were checked and verified. Fou rteen (18 percent) of these seventy-sis publications mere misrepresented, M isrepresentations included citations of nonexistent articles in actual jour nals and nonauthorship of existing articles. Conclusions: We concluded that publications listed on postgraduate applicat ions should be scrutinized carefully, Copies of cited publications should b e required by residency programs before applications are considered complet e, The importance of professionalism needs to be emphasized in the curricul a of medical schools. Residency training programs should develop guidelines regarding misrepresentation.