Arms Race Control Score Standardizes Residency Applicant Publication Assessment

Christian A Bowers^{1

2}, Michael M Covell^{1

3}, Elad I Levy^{4

5

6

7}, Aaron C Segura^{1

8}, Samantha Varela⁹, Mohamed A R Soliman^{4

10}, Jeffrey P Mullin^{4

11

6}, Evan Courville¹², Esteban Quiceno⁴, Joanna Roy¹³, Marc Moisi^{1

2}, Johnny Delashaw^{1

2}, Daniel E Hall^{14

15

16}, Lola B Chambless¹⁷, Sara G M Piccirillo^{18

19}, Michael Kogan¹

Affiliations

¹ Bowers Neurosurgical Frailty and Outcomes Data Science Lab, Flint , Michigan , USA.
² Hurley Neurological Center & Hurley Medical Center, Flint , Michigan , USA.
³ Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington , District of Columbia , USA.
⁴ Department of Neurosurgery, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo , New York , USA.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, Gates Vascular Institute at Kaleida Health, Buffalo , New York , USA.
⁶ Jacobs Institute, Buffalo , New York , USA.
⁷ Department of Radiology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo , New York , USA.
⁸ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque , New Mexico , USA.
⁹ Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston , Texas , USA.
¹⁰ Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo , Egypt.
¹¹ Canon Stroke and Vascular Research Center, University at Buffalo, Buffalo , New York , USA.
¹² Department of Neurosurgery, Carillion Clinic, Roanoke , Virginia , USA.
¹³ Department of Neurosurgery, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA.
¹⁴ Departments of Surgery, Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of PIttsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹⁵ Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Health System, Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , USA.
¹⁶ Wolff Center at UPMC, Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , USA.
¹⁷ Department of Neurosurgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
¹⁸ The Brain Tumor Translational Laboratory, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque , New Mexico , USA.
¹⁹ University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, Albuquerque , New Mexico , USA.

PMID: 39960298
DOI: 10.1227/neu.0000000000003372

Arms Race Control Score Standardizes Residency Applicant Publication Assessment

Christian A Bowers et al. Neurosurgery. 2025.

. 2025 Feb 17;97(1):250-258.

doi: 10.1227/neu.0000000000003372.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Bowers Neurosurgical Frailty and Outcomes Data Science Lab, Flint , Michigan , USA.
² Hurley Neurological Center & Hurley Medical Center, Flint , Michigan , USA.
³ Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington , District of Columbia , USA.
⁴ Department of Neurosurgery, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo , New York , USA.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, Gates Vascular Institute at Kaleida Health, Buffalo , New York , USA.
⁶ Jacobs Institute, Buffalo , New York , USA.
⁷ Department of Radiology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo , New York , USA.
⁸ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque , New Mexico , USA.
⁹ Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston , Texas , USA.
¹⁰ Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo , Egypt.
¹¹ Canon Stroke and Vascular Research Center, University at Buffalo, Buffalo , New York , USA.
¹² Department of Neurosurgery, Carillion Clinic, Roanoke , Virginia , USA.
¹³ Department of Neurosurgery, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA.
¹⁴ Departments of Surgery, Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of PIttsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹⁵ Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Health System, Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , USA.
¹⁶ Wolff Center at UPMC, Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , USA.
¹⁷ Department of Neurosurgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville , Tennessee , USA.
¹⁸ The Brain Tumor Translational Laboratory, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque , New Mexico , USA.
¹⁹ University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, Albuquerque , New Mexico , USA.

PMID: 39960298
DOI: 10.1227/neu.0000000000003372

Abstract

Background and objectives: The publication "arms race" refers to the recent, exponential increase in publications among residency "Match" applicants. Total number of residency applicant publications is the strongest predictor of "Match" success in neurosurgery beyond licensing examination scores. This study sought to introduce an objective metric by which publications may be scored to assess residency applicant authorship effort.

Methods: A retrospective, quantitative assessment of 537 publications by 57 interviewed applicants at a neurosurgery residency program was conducted from the 2022 to 2023 "Match" cycle. A 4-point scale was used to calculate a Publication Effort Score (PES) for each publication, ranging from a letter/editorial/historical commentary (PES = 1) to a high-effort clinical/basic science/cadaveric study (PES = 4). Each PES was subsequently divided by the applicant's authorship position to assign a corresponding publication value unit (PVU), which was calculated for each applicant publication and summated for an applicant's cumulative PVU (cPVU). An Arms Race Control Score (ARCS) was calculated by eliminating all minimal effort publications (PVU ≤ 1) from the cPVU score.

Results: Mean publication number among applicants was 9.28 (±10.7), with approximately one-third (31.8%, N = 169) of publications first-authored by an applicant. Approximately one-quarter (26.1%, N = 140) of publications were minimal effort publications. A minority of publications (41.3%, N = 222) had a PVU of greater than 2. ARCS implementation resulted in a major ranking change (±≥5 positions) for 61.4% (N = 35) of applicants, ranging from an increase in 22 positions to a decrease in 26 positions. Following ARCS, four positions changed among applicants ranked 1 to 10.

Conclusion: ARCS standardizes residency applicant publication assessment by attempting to capture applicant authorship effort. ARCS implementation may drive residency applicants to focus on higher effort publications, offering a novel solution to the publication "arms race." Automated ARCS scoring for the upcoming "Match" cycle may be calculated using an applicant's last name and publications' PubMed IDs using https://arcscalculator.com .

Keywords: Neurosurgery match; Publications arms race; Research experience; Residency applications; Residency match.

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References

1. Karimov Z, Kazim SF, Schmidt M, et al. Rapid exponential increase in neurosurgery departmental scholarly output following an intensive research initiative. Postgrad Med J. 2022;98(1158):239-245.
1. Wadhwa H, Shah SS, Shan J, et al. The neurosurgery applicant’s “arms race”: analysis of medical student publication in the Neurosurgery Residency Match. 2019.
1. Makhoul AT, Pontell ME, Ganesh Kumar N, Drolet BC. Objective measures needed—program directors' perspectives on a pass/fail USMLE Step 1. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(25):2389-2392.
1. Hasley HL, O’Malley GR, Bala S, Weisman HE, Roth PA. Realistic assessment of research publications by neurosurgery residency applicants. World Neurosurg. 2023;172:e372-e377.
1. Ahmed AK, Adashi EY. Research fever-an ever more prominent trend in the residency match. JAMA Surg. 2023;158(1):6-8.

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Arms Race Control Score Standardizes Residency Applicant Publication Assessment

Affiliations

Arms Race Control Score Standardizes Residency Applicant Publication Assessment

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources