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Can medical students get published?

I know this is only for current medical students, but i will be one in october (health permitting) and i was wondering if any medical students can get published in respected scientific journals?

What kind of freedom do you get over your research?

Hypothetically, if one were to digest many books and research papers and come up with a research project, would a research proffesuer at least consider what the student was saying, if it sounded good?

Thanks guys!
Reply 1
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Original post by MENDACIUM
I know this is only for current medical students, but i will be one in october (health permitting) and i was wondering if any medical students can get published in respected scientific journals?

What kind of freedom do you get over your research?

Hypothetically, if one were to digest many books and research papers and come up with a research project, would a research proffesuer at least consider what the student was saying, if it sounded good?

Thanks guys!


Normally it does not work like that. It is usually a researcher or doctor who has the idea and the student gets involved and is published that way as a co-author who does much of the leg work.

Unless you do an iBSc or a research student selected component in which case it is likely to be your original research idea.

Edit - Realised I worded what I said to sound more like students designed their own project. I meant more had influence in the direction. Not so much enitrely their own original idea.
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(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 2
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Med students definitely can get published yes, but by being a monkey for the senior researchers doing really basic manual work and getting put as like the 8th co-author, not by coming up with it yourself. There's a lot of luck involved too. For example, if the work you do produces negative results its far less likely to get published.

Original post by carcinoma

Unless you do an iBSc or a research student selected component in which case it is likely to be your original research idea.


Really?
Original post by carcinoma
Unless you do an iBSc or a research student selected component in which case it is likely to be your original research idea.

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Really? Every BSc project I've seen has been designed long before the student came along.
Reply 4
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Original post by Becca-Sarah
Really? Every BSc project I've seen has been designed long before the student came along.


Yea I have heard of people having some influence on the project they did.


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I'm biomed and in our final year projects a few have been selected in past years to be written up with your supervisor to be published.
People see publication as something you'll automatically work your way up to but that isn't necessarily true. Anybody with sufficient know-how can publish a paper, so long as you are thorough and accurate in your work.

Consider review papers. Pick a subject, do a massive literature survey and do something meaningful with the data. You don't need any clinical samples to do this.

As far as clinical research goes, I'm fairly confident you'll have to start off being a lab & stats slave or assistant to a lead researcher before getting any opportunity to conduct clinical work yourself.
Original post by carcinoma
Yea I have heard of people having some influence on the project they did.


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Big difference between having some influence and designing the whole thing from scratch though...
Original post by Becca-Sarah
Big difference between having some influence and designing the whole thing from scratch though...


Are your iBSc's always clinically orientated (i.e. I need to take these various samples and analyse them) or are they mostly non-clinical (i.e. prove this hypothesis is true based on previous research and any samples I can find in the freezer?)
Original post by MattKneale
Are your iBSc's always clinically orientated (i.e. I need to take these various samples and analyse them) or are they mostly non-clinical (i.e. prove this hypothesis is true based on previous research and any samples I can find in the freezer?)


Neither of your examples are clinical, imo. Clinical uses patients. Any use of 'samples' to me implies it's a lab project, which isn't clinical as such... Happy to be corrected, but that's how I've always interpreted the difference.

And you're always going to use previous research to back up your arguments, you'd never write up a BSc project without referring to existing literature.

Either way, BSc's can include lab, clinical or library projects.
Original post by Becca-Sarah
Neither of your examples are clinical, imo. Clinical uses patients. Any use of 'samples' to me implies it's a lab project, which isn't clinical as such... Happy to be corrected, but that's how I've always interpreted the difference.

And you're always going to use previous research to back up your arguments, you'd never write up a BSc project without referring to existing literature.

Either way, BSc's can include lab, clinical or library projects.


Sorry, yeah I'm aware of that, my point was would you go and physically take samples from patients (be it by venipuncture, lavage or whatever) or does it tend to be more use-what-you've-been-given?

I wasn't trying to imply you don't use previous literature for both.
Original post by Becca-Sarah
Really? Every BSc project I've seen has been designed long before the student came along.


My parter who is currently on a work placement year studying human biosciences has been given freedom of coming up with his own original project so it is possible that not every student produces a project that is directly set by a supervisor
Original post by MattKneale
Sorry, yeah I'm aware of that, my point was would you go and physically take samples from patients (be it by venipuncture, lavage or whatever) or does it tend to be more use-what-you've-been-given?

I wasn't trying to imply you don't use previous literature for both.


I think it's more common to use samples you're given. Patient contact projects that I've seen have been more where the data you're getting is from questioning patients rather than taking biological samples.
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Original post by Becca-Sarah
I think it's more common to use samples you're given. Patient contact projects that I've seen have been more where the data you're getting is from questioning patients rather than taking biological samples.


There's a fair few imaging studies around too, although clearly you wouldn't be acquiring the images by yourself.
Original post by nexttime
There's a fair few imaging studies around too, although clearly you wouldn't be acquiring the images by yourself.


Unless you have access to a CT scanner and a willingness to be irradiated?
Original post by Alex_Jones
My parter who is currently on a work placement year studying human biosciences has been given freedom of coming up with his own original project so it is possible that not every student produces a project that is directly set by a supervisor


They're referring more to a medicine intercalating year, not a bioscience degree. Whilst you're correct, I imagine things are different for a lot of medical students.
Reply 16
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Original post by MattKneale
Unless you have access to a CT scanner and a willingness to be irradiated?


Actually, i was a subject in several studies during my BA. MRI rather than CT thankfully!
Original post by MattKneale
They're referring more to a medicine intercalating year, not a bioscience degree. Whilst you're correct, I imagine things are different for a lot of medical students.


Well yeah they would be a little different i'm sure but i was stating that for intercalculating students it would probably be possible with abit of luck and a good idea to get a paper published of course depends on supervisor and the university itself though
Original post by Alex_Jones
Well yeah they would be a little different i'm sure but i was stating that for intercalculating students it would probably be possible with abit of luck and a good idea to get a paper published of course depends on supervisor and the university itself though


I love to intercalculate.
In my experience the vast majority of students who get involved in research and get published work on a project that was conceived by one of their supervisors. Students may have some influence on the direction the project takes, but most students do not have enough knowledge about a particular area to identify something that hasn't been done, or a good enough understanding of methodology to design a project. There are of course exceptions, and if you think you have a good idea, it's certainly worth approaching someone in that area and asking them if they would be willing to supervise you. There are a huge range of possible projects. On my iBSc there are students doing wet lab projects, systematic reviews, analysing data sets, going through patient notes to collect data, there are some who have collected samples from patients that they are analysing in the lab, there are people doing qualitative studies interviewing patients, observing teamwork/communication of healtcare professionals in practice, projects on education and training, and projects on patient safety. It is certainly possible to get a well written review published, but I know very few people who have been able to do this. Most people who get published are either very lucky, do an iBSc, or work very very hard, and often all three.

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