Medical schools have long been centers of research and innovation in the medical field. However, as in any research field, there is often tension between the pursuit of high-quality research and the pressure to produce many research papers. These tensions can be especially acute in the competitive environment of medical schools. Faculty and students feel pressure to publish as many articles as possible to advance their careers and gain funding.
On the one hand, striving for high-quality research is essential to advancing the field and improving patient care. Well-conducted and rigorous research can lead to discoveries and insights that can influence the development of better treatments and therapies. It also forms the basis for further research and helps build the evidence base for a particular area of research.
On the other hand, the pressure to produce large amounts of research results can lead to a focus on quantity rather than quality. This can lead to a proliferation of poorly conducted or underperforming research, diluting the pool of available evidence and making it difficult to identify the most promising areas of research. For example, the average number of research articles published by applicants who applied for fellowship programs in gastroenterology in 2009 was 3.17 as compared to 2018, where it was 12.76, i.e., almost 4 times (1). It can also create a culture of overwork and burnout among researchers, putting them under pressure to achieve unrealistic goals or produce an excessive number of papers. You may be feeling, “So how can medical schools balance the quality and quantity of research?”. The focus is on helping the team develop. This includes providing resources and support for the development of innovative and well-designed research projects and encouraging collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches. It also includes providing mentoring and training to early-stage researchers so that they acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to conduct high-quality research. Therefore, the constant press to publish a huge number of research papers on students is a reason why 85% of the published literature is useless, or precisely said, “irrelevant”, in Lancet (2).
Another important aspect is the promotion of transparency and openness in the research process. This includes promoting the use of open science practices. Share data and code and encourage researchers to speak openly and honestly about the challenges and limitations they face in their work. This ensures that the research produced is of the highest quality and can be trusted by other researchers and practitioners (3).
Ultimately, finding the right balance of quality and quantity in medical school research requires a combination of approaches, and sometimes compromises. By supporting the development of research teams and practices, the medical school can ensure that the research produced is of the highest quality and has the greatest potential to improve patient care and advance the medical field.
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This article was written by Arfah Riaz, a student in Medicine at Fatima Jinnah Medical University.
References:
- Imam Z, Cappell MS. Increased average number of medical publications per interviewee from 2009 to 2018: a study of 100 interviewees to an academic gastroenterology fellowship program. BMC Med Educ. 2019 Nov 4;19(1):402. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-019-1841-2. Erratum in: BMC Med Educ. 2019 Nov 27;19(1):440. PMID: 31684944; PMCID: PMC6829938.
- Chalmers I., Glasziou P. Avoidable waste in the production and reporting of research evidence. Lancet.2009;374:86–89
- Dellis A, Skolarikos A, Papatsoris AG. Why should I do research? Is it a waste of time? Arab J Urol. 2014 Mar;12(1):68-70. DOI: 10.1016/j.aju.2013.08.007. Epub 2013 Sep 17. PMID: 26019928; PMCID: PMC4434536.
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