Introduction: Scholarship in surgery is a key driver of innovation and improvement in patient care. The scholar role has been recognized as a key component of the CanMEDS
framework. Despite that, most trainees appear to be ambivalent towards research, even
with curricular introductions at the undergraduate level and residency mandates.^1,2 This
leads to the question of whether motivation for research can be nurtured during residency
or if this trait is identifiable in applicants. This study hypothesized that research in medical
school is a predictor of scholarship productivity in residency.

Methods: Surgical residency program administration were emailed between July and October 2021 for names of residents who graduated in 2019 and 2020. Residents were searched on PubMed, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar. Peer-reviewed research items were assessed to determine whether they occurred during medical school or residency, using dates of publication and author affiliation. We recorded the number of publications/abstracts, including first author and specialty-specific. Descriptive statistics, non-parametric correlation, and Kruskall-Wallis tests were used in data analysis. 

Results: The median number of peer-reviewed papers and abstracts published was four (interquartile range [IQR] 1–8) in residency and one (IQR 0–2) in medical school.
There was a significant positive association between published papers in medical
school and residency (rho 0.345, p<0.001), abstracts (rho 0.159, p=0.014), and combined
paper/abstracts (rho 0.317, p<0.001). Using a non-parametric linear regression
equivalent, it is predicted that for every abstract/peer-reviewed paper in medical
school, a resident would be expected to produce 5.3.

Conclusions: Research work in medical school, particularly peer-reviewed
papers, seems to predict greater research output in residency. While nurture and
mentorship are important drivers for scholarship in residency, motivation, as exhibited by
pre-residency research involvement, is an important predictor.