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Posted
on 15-Mar-02 03:49 AM
Misrepresenting your qualifications is more common than you think, even in the upper echelons of academia. But you never know who is checking up on you. Here is an example of academic fraud, revealed by a study I was involved in.
Misrepresentation of Research Publications among Orthopaedic Surgery Fellowship Applicants
A COMPARISON WITH DOCUMENTED MISREPRESENTATIONS IN OTHER FIELDS
MV Patel, BB Pradhan, RA Meals
Abstract
Background: Competition for orthopaedic surgery fellowships is fierce. The applicant pool includes orthopaedic, plastic, neuro- and general surgeons. Residency and fellowship training programs in other disciplines have documented shocking levels of misrepresentation in the curriculum vitae of prospective applicants. However, no study has looked at orthopaedic residents applying for subspecialty fellowship programs.
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 280 applications for fellowship positions at our academic institution’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery from 1996 to 1998 inclusively. To allow for press and publication delays we allowed for a minimum twenty-four month follow up. We analyzed the listings of applicants’ research publications for evidence of misrepresentation, by conducting an exhaustive literature search. Only the most obvious confirmable discrepancies were labeled as misrepresentations. We then compared our results with those found in studies conducted in other fields, namely: Gastroenterology fellowship, Emergency Medicine residency, Pediatric residency, Dermatology residency, Orthopaedic residency, and medical faculty applications.
Results: Of the 151 out of 280 (54%) applicants for orthopaedic surgery fellowships who claimed journal publications, we found that fifteen (10%) misrepresented their citations. With the numbers available, this rate was not significantly different among the various subspecialty fellowship applicants (p > 0.1). In addition, various demographic data did not correlate with the rate of misrepresentation (p > 0.1). These results are comparable to those reported in other medical fields (p > 0.1).
Conclusions: Misrepresentation occurs in Orthopaedic fellowship applications at a rate comparable to that seen in other fields. This rate is not different amongst the various subspecialties within orthopaedics. Policies that may lessen the incidence of falsification on curriculum vitae should be instituted in an attempt to curb such activity.
Orthopaedic surgery is one of the most competitive and sought after residency training programs. With decreased funding and the push for fewer specialists, many training programs are being forced to reduce their available training positions. The applicant pool for orthopaedic residency and fellowship positions includes many doctors who were at the top of their medical school class. Early in their career, many trainees express their commitment to orthopaedics by performing scientific research and publishing their work in peer-reviewed journals. Because of the excellent field of applicants, many trainees may feel that the cliché, “publish or perish”, applies to their residency and fellowship, and that their application must include research accomplishments and publications.
A recent study18 from the University of Pittsburgh Gastroenterology Department reviewed the claimed research publications on 236 fellowship applications. Of the applicants that reported publications, 30% (sixteen of fifty-three) unequivocally misrepresented their work. Misrepresentation came in the form of nonexistent articles, nonexistent journals, or articles noted as “in press” that had not appeared in print after an eighteen-month follow-up. One applicant cited twenty-four articles in nonexistent journals.
Similar results have been reported for residency applications. A study11 performed at the University of California, Los Angeles looked at 350 emergency medicine residency applications. Twenty percent (twenty-three of 113) of applicants citing publications misrepresented the facts. A statistically significant positive correlation was noted between the number of citations and the incidence of misrepresentation. Markedly less misrepresentation was found in the 138 dermatology residency applicants’ curriculum vitae in a recent year at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine2. Of the fifty-two applicants citing publications, three (6%) falsified their publications. Most recently, a study4 of curriculum vitae of applicants to the orthopaedic residency program at the University of Tennessee School of Medicine found a 17% (eleven of sixty-four) misrepresentation rate. A scrutiny of residency applicants to the pediatrics program at the University of Washington1 found that up to twenty-nine out of 147 (19.7%) had misrepresented their publications. Even medical faculty is not immune to this problem of seemingly epidemic proportions. A recent study10 showed that thirty-nine of 250 (15.6%) applicants to faculty positions at various medical schools had discrepancies in their publication citations. These studies are compared in Figure 1.
The amount of erroneous reporting on the curricula vitae of surgery residents that apply for fellowship positions is unknown. We analyzed the claimed publications on the applications to the UCLA Department of Orthopaedic Surgery for consecutive fellowship matches in 1996 to 1998.
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