Why Johnny Can’t Stop Writing: The Boom in Low-Impact, Politicized Medical-Student Research

One might think that increasing the volume of research authored by medical students is a positive development. If research is good, then having more of it must be better.

This report challenges that assumption, examining the dramatic rise in medical student–authored research over the last two decades and finding that the increase has been driven in large part by the desire to pad résumés in the absence of other markers of academic achievement.

This turn of events is exacerbating the degradation of the research enterprise, as shoddy and often politicized studies make their way into the medical corpus.

In addition, the time medical students devote to producing low-quality research distracts from their focus on acquiring the knowledge and skills required to be effective physicians. In the long run, this compromises patient care.

Continue reading the full report below.