By Mun K. Hong, MD, MHCM, FACC

As a first-year cardiology fellow, I devoted the entire year to animal research, having been given only the main hypothesis of the study and entrusted with finding the necessary animal model, experimentation, and collaborators for completing the study. It was both exhilarating and daunting as my mentor was one of the busiest clinical interventional cardiologists and my collaborators were non-cardiologists and basic scientists. In addition, I was the solo researcher as I had no technicians or helpers. Despite the obstacles, I finally succeeded in completing the study at the end of my research year, having presented two abstracts at national cardiology conferences and the manuscript published in Circulation, the authoritative cardiology research journal. The entire year thus resulted in one peer-reviewed publication, which had an impact on how interventional cardiology viewed the successful treatment of restenosis, the most frequent complication following coronary angioplasty at the time.

I review many applications for cardiology fellowship and have been not impressed with but troubled by the numerous publications (60 publications in one applicant’s case!) in the CV. These are mainly meta-analysis and repeat analysis of publications that do not add any original data or expand our knowledge to the literature, but “rehash” of other research efforts. Not only are they mainly statistical analyses but are co-authored by a double-digit author list that is difficult to comprehend. They also tend to be in obscure journals that many physicians are not even aware of.

So the question is – should the quantity of publications matter as much as the quality? In my approach I value those publications that required original work, not just using other researchers’ data for minimal contribution to the literature and our medical knowledge. I completely understand the competitive landscape of medicine, especially from the perspective of trainees, but we should strive for quality work, not quantity when it comes to research.

Mun K. Hong, MD, MHCM, FACC