Presenting Research on Your ERAS Application

In the 2027 MyERAS application, research and publications go in the Scholarly Work section, and the work that shaped you as a researcher also belongs in Experiences. Enter every item at its true status, star the three you can discuss best, and be ready to explain your role in each. This page covers the mechanics and the honesty rules. For whether research is worth doing, see how programs view research.

What the Scholarly Work section accepts #

According to the AAMC 2027 guide, the types are:

You also record the authors in the order they appear and say whether you are first author. If you have no entries, you must select None.

The guide includes three tools that matter for strategy:

• Star up to three items as your most meaningful scholarly work.
• Group related items into scholarly collections, such as a poster, an abstract and a paper from the same project. Collection titles have a 100 character limit.
• Preview as program to see how programs will view the section.

Label status honestly #

Programs may check, and NRMP notes that some programs verify publications for applicants they are interested in. NRMP also says applicant-reported research counts are not verified and quality varies greatly. So honesty is both an ethical rule and a practical one.

Do not list a submitted paper as accepted, do not call a conference abstract a journal paper, and do not list a preprint as peer reviewed. If you are unsure which type fits, ask your Designated Dean's Office as the guide suggests, or ask the lead author.

Authorship: say what you did #

Your name on a paper is not a description of your work. In the Experiences section, say what you did: study design, data collection, analysis, writing. Use accepted standards for authorship. The ICMJE defines authorship criteria, and our guide to authorship and author order explains what is ethical. Do not accept or pay for authorship you did not earn, and avoid predatory venues. See predatory journals.

Use Experiences for the story #

The Experiences section is where programs read about your role, supervisor, dates, and what you learned. For each research position:

1. Name the project, setting, supervisor and dates.
2. State your specific role in two or three plain sentences.
3. Name the output: poster, abstract, manuscript in progress.
4. Link it to something you can discuss in an interview.

Avoid duplicating the same text in Scholarly Work and Experiences. See writing the Experiences section and the MyERAS walkthrough.

Quantity versus quality #

NRMP's 2024 IMG Charting Outcomes says applicants do not need publications or research projects to match successfully. In its tables, unmatched IMGs in some specialties reported as many or more abstracts, presentations and publications than matched ones. Research is a supplement to a strong exam record, clinical experience and letters, not a substitute. A short list you can discuss in depth reads better than a long list you cannot.

Preparing for interview questions #

Expect "tell me about this project." Prepare for each starred item:

• The research question and why it mattered.
• Your role, in first person, without exaggeration.
• One limitation of the work.
• What you learned, and how it connects to your specialty.

If the work is from a long time ago, be ready to say what you have done since. See common interview questions.

If you have little research #

Say nothing false and do not pad. Spend your effort on what carries more weight for your profile, such as recent clinical activity, letters and a realistic program list. If you want to add research, see finding a research position, posters and conferences and case reports. Start early: an item that appears in the ERAS Scholarly Work section as "submitted" before you certify is useful; one that you finish after interview season is useful in a different way, as an update to programs.