Scientific publication misrepresentation among orthopaedic residency applicants

Background: The predictors of erroneous publication reporting among orthopaedic surgery residency applicants have not been established. Methods: A retrospective analysis of the reported scholarly activity of candidates who applied to our orthopaedic surgery department for a first-year residency position in 2017 was conducted to determine the incidence of scientific publication misrepresentation and analyze its association with pre-residency criteria. Results: Out of 510 candidates, 264 (51.8%) applicants included accepted, in-press, or published scholarly activity on their resumes. The incidence of misrepresentation was 20.5%, and did not differ statistically based on the candidates' academic performance (United States Medical Licensing Examination - USMLE - steps 1 and 2 scores), Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) membership, immigration status, or or additional academic degrees (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Misrepresentation is a persistent problem among residency training program applicants, and did not correlate with an applicant's academic performance, AOA membership, immigration status, or additional advanced academic degrees. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.