Preresidency publication record and its association with publishing during paediatric residency.

The process by which resident selection committees screen and, ultimately, select prospective students is complex and diverse across institutions. Committees routinely review several applicant characteristics to compare candidates; however, concerns regarding the predictive value of these measures have been raised. Studies investigating the residency selection process have shown that criteria reviewed as part of the candidate file, including journal publication history, are weakly associated with subsequent resident in-training evaluations (1,2). These findings are, however, heterogeneous across disciplines and limited by subjective and/or non-validated outcome measures of resident performance. Few studies have attempted to investigate the role of candidate scholarly activity, largely originating from surgical specialties in the United States (3–10). Given the paucity of robust and objective data from the unique field of paediatrics, we aimed to determine whether an association exists between the publication of journal articles before and during paediatrics residency.