Document Type

Abstract

Publication Date

2-11-2026

Academic Year

2025-2026

Comments

Presented at the 2026 Scholarly Inquiry (SI) Research Project Symposium.

Abstract

Introduction/Purpose: Orthopaedic surgery is among the most competitive residency specialties, and applicants have historically relied on USMLE Step 1 scores as a metric of ability for applications. However, as Step 1 has transitioned to pass/fail in 2022, there has been a shift in emphasis toward other metrics such as research productivity. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the research trends among orthopaedic residency applicants over time with the hypothesis that post-pass/fail Step 1 applications would demonstrate higher research output at the time of application.

Methods: Residents from the top 30 orthopaedic residencies (PGY-5=211, PGY-3=211, PGY-1=213) were included. PubMed and Google Scholar were used to identify all publications completed prior to the ERAS application deadline for each cohort. Through manual review, total publications, orthopaedic vs non-orthopaedic publications, and first-author publications were collected. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and negative binomial regression.

Results/Conclusions: All metrics increased over this period: total publications (PGY-5=3.39, PGY-3=3.93, PGY- 1=5.21), orthopaedic publications (2.23, 2.56, 3.24), non-orthopaedic publications (1.16, 1.37, 1.97), and first-author publications (0.88, 1.06, 1.31). The negative binomial regression indicated that PGY-1 residents (post step-1 pass/fail) had 53.8% more publications than PGY-5 residents (p=0.0015). These findings suggest that applicants are using research as a metric of achievement to remain competitive in applying into orthopedics in the wake of the USMLE Step 1 pass/fail transition. Limitations included the retrospective design, reliance on publicly indexed publications, and the focus on only the top 30 programs. Future studies should include larger cohorts and evaluate how research productivity influences match outcomes, subspecialty choice, and academic career trajectories.

Additional Files
Kelly_Joseph_poster.pdf (354 kB)

Language

English

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