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.