How to Write a Research CV for Residency: A Complete Guide for IMGs

Introduction

The majority of applicants have done more research than they think. Perhaps you read a handful of abstracts for a review, extracted information from patient records for a senior resident’s project or did some writing up for an atypical case. The real challenge will be later in the day when you sit with ERAS to determine the placement of each piece and how to describe it.

The two ERAS sections where research appears, and what belongs in each one, is also covered in how to list research in ERAS, a useful companion to this guide once your entries are drafted.

That’s where the research CV for residency comes into play. It’s just a history of the research that you have undertaken, your involvement in it and the outcomes. This step-by-step guide will help you create one. It is primarily geared towards international medical graduates (IMGs), although it can be used by any applicant for a US residency. Research and describing your research, listing publications and posters, and what to do if you have no publications at this time will be covered in the 2027 ERAS application.

What is a Research CV for Residency?

A CV for research will include your research positions, research projects you participated in, personal contribution, and outcomes of the research (published article, abstract, poster, talk).

Here it’s easy to mix things up, as there are three versions of your CV out there. The first is the one that you save and typically is in a Word file. The second is called MyERAS, which is an online application that you type information into boxes. The third is the CV that ERAS generates from those boxes and inputs to programs.

So why keep your own programs if they’re not used except in the ERAS version? For it makes everything else easier. The answer key can be copied directly from MyERAS. If you have a mentor, you may send a letter to him/her. You can read it the night before an interview and refresh your memory of what you actually did on a project completed 2 years ago.

One more thing. In your research section, your research should be described, not only the project’s name. The reader learns virtually nothing about the research from “Cardiology research project”. The term “Extracted data for a meta-analysis on SGLT2 inhibitors in chronic kidney disease” gives them quite a bit to chew on.

In the 2027 ERAS Application, where does research belong?

Research can show up in two different parts of the 2027 ERAS application. The difference is explained and most of the confusion is gone.

The research aspect as an experience.

The Experiences section is related to your role. Did you work as a research assistant? A research fellow? A student who has assisted in a study that you participated in outside of class? Here, where you will state so, the institution, your dates, and that you worked with it.

No publication is required for listing a research experience. That year of data collection for one study that isn’t published still counts. Put it here. Whether it matters to a program director is a different question. Do publications really matter for residency match covers when a list of experiences without outputs is competitive and when it isn’t.

Research as the study of knowledge

The Scholarly Work section (formerly known as Publications) is a section about results. Journal articles are placed here, as are peer-reviewed abstracts, posters and oral presentations. They are entered separately, by type. When you are not sure which one to pick, the AAMC’s applicant guide provides a description of each type.

A simple method for choosing to make a decision.

On each project, you should ask yourself two questions. Was research work carried out on it? If so, it goes in Experiences. Second, was there a published, presented, or accepted outcome from the project? If that’s the case, then that’s also Scholarly Work.

Projects can be found in either location; it is normal. Suppose you had taken part in a chart review project that resulted in a poster at a conference and a year later a journal article. You would have one experience entry and two scholarly work entries (one for the poster and one for the article). No, it is not double posting. Every entry has a different message to offer the reader.

How to Write Research Experience on a Residency CV

Here’s an order that works well for most research entries:

1. Your role on the project
2. Where the work happened, plus your mentor or principal investigator (PI) if it makes sense to name them
3. When you started and finished, or “present” if you’re still on it
4. What the study was looking at
5. What you personally did, and how
6. What came out of it, if anything did

Most entries fall at step 5. Individuals talk about the project and do not remember to talk about themselves.

Here is a very weak version:

Engaged in research in cardiology.

Here is a better version:

“Completed a literature review; abstracted data from studies included in a systematic review; assisted in data interpretation; assisted in manuscript preparation for a systematic review on statins and heart failure.

What do you notice about the two sentences? The second one informs a program director of what you can do. Use verbs for real work such as screened, extracted, analysed, drafted or presented. There are no words like “participated” or “was involved in” that tell much.

Be honest, too. Write your profession if you were screening titles/abstracts. Don’t claim to have done the stats when you were sitting next to the person who did. You can discuss any part of your writing, and interviewers can ask anything about it; it is extremely difficult to discuss something you never did.

If you are aware of the study design, describe it. It’s not a huge word, but it will tell you that you got the study you participated in.

The examples here are just illustrations. Don’t list duties that were not actually carried out.

Examples of Research Experiences for Various Projects

The examples all below are fabricated. Look at how an entry is constructed and write an entry of your own on your work.

Systematic review and meta-analysis

Screened 1200 titles and abstracts in the systematic review and meta-analysis, extracted the outcome data from 18 included trials, assessed risk of bias with the Cochrane RoB 2 tool and drafted the methods section of the manuscript. These are entries you can write because you understood what you were doing. How to write a systematic review and meta-analysis covers each stage in the order you meet them, which is also the order they appear in a strong experience entry.

A clinical or retrospective chart review was performed.

Research Assistant (Retrospective cohort study of patients with Acute kidney injury in ICU of tertiary care hospital) collected clinical and lab data on 340 patient charts on a standard form, cleaned the data set in excel, maintained study records as per Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements. Chart reviews are the most common first project for IMGs, and the entry above is what a well-run one looks like. How to do a retrospective chart review covers building the data collection form, IRB requirements and how to describe the design accurately.

Case report

Searched the literature, compiled the clinical history from the patient’s notes and wrote the initial discussion. Adhered to hospital policy with regard to patient consent and anonymous details. Case reports are the most accessible first publication for IMGs with limited resources. How to write a medical case report covers the CARE guidelines, consent requirements and where to submit one.

Laboratory or basic scientific research

Student researcher in a Pharmacology laboratory where he/she was studying the possibility of an antioxidant that protects against drug-induced kidney damage in rats; prepared drug solutions, took daily measurements, processed tissue samples for histology, and reviewed results with the PI.

Research assistant/fellowship

Clinical research fellow on a multi-center hypertension trial; screened patients, obtained informed consent under supervision, arranged follow-up visits, entered data into REDCap, attended weekly research group meetings. REDCap shows up in most multi-centre trials now. What is REDCap in medical research covers what it does, why it matters for IRB compliance and how to describe your use of it accurately in an entry like this one.

Pay attention to the fact that each one indicates what the person’s role was, what kind of study this was, what the person did and what happened as a result. Not all of these tasks have to be completed. Truthfully, it’s two or three things that you can explain well that will look better than a long list that you can’t explain well.

How to List Publications, Abstracts, Posters and Oral Presentations

Each item in the Scholarly Work section goes under its own type. Here’s what you’ll need for the common ones.

Journal articles

You’ll need the title, every author in the exact order printed in the article, the journal name, the year, the volume and pages if there are any, and a DOI or PubMed ID (PMID). Don’t change the author order, not even slightly.

Here’s a made-up example of how a citation looks:

Khan A, Rehman S, Malik F. Serum magnesium levels and intradialytic hypotension: a cross-sectional study. J Example Nephrol. 2025;12(3):145-151.

When you list your own paper, copy the DOI from the journal’s website and click it once to make sure it takes you to the right article. It sounds obvious, but broken DOIs are more common than you’d think.

Abstracts

This one trips people up. Some abstracts get published, for example in a journal supplement or a book of conference proceedings. Others are accepted for a conference but never printed anywhere. Those aren’t the same thing. Only call an abstract published if you can show where it was published.

Poster presentations

List the poster title, the authors, the name of the conference, where it was held, and the date.

Oral presentations

List the title of your talk, where you gave it, and when. A talk at a national conference and a talk at your hospital’s grand rounds are both presentations, but they’re not equal, so describe the setting clearly.

Co-authored work

Don’t worry too much about where your name falls in the author list. Being fourth author on a good paper is perfectly fine. What matters is that you list your real position and can explain your contribution.

Also keep in mind that a poster isn’t a journal article, even if the same data gets published later. Pick the type that matches what actually happened. If one project led to both a poster and an article, they’re two separate entries.

How to List Unpublished and Ongoing Research

A paper goes through several stages before it’s published, and each stage means something different. Describe your work by where it is right now, not where you hope it’ll be.

Status	What it means	Where it goes
Ongoing research	You’re still collecting or analyzing data	Experiences only
Manuscript in preparation	You’re writing the paper but haven’t sent it to a journal	Experiences only
Submitted	It’s with a journal, and they haven’t decided yet	Scholarly Work, if the application offers this status
Under review	The journal has sent it to reviewers	Scholarly Work, if the application offers this status
Accepted	The journal has formally said yes, but it isn’t out yet	Scholarly Work (keep the acceptance email)
Published	It’s online or in print with full citation details	Scholarly Work, with the full citation and DOI or PMID

Stick to the status options MyERAS gives you. And please don’t round up. A paper you’re planning to submit next week is still “in preparation” today. If something changes after you’ve applied, you can bring it up in your interviews.

Here’s a made-up example of an ongoing project written as an experience:

“Research assistant on an ongoing prospective study of anemia management in hemodialysis patients. Have recruited 45 participants so far, record monthly hemoglobin and ferritin values, and maintain the study database. Data collection should finish in March 2027.”

It describes real work, and it doesn’t pretend there’s a paper when there isn’t one yet.

How IMGs Can Present Research With Limited Publications

A lot of IMGs assume their research won’t matter because it wasn’t done in the US. That’s not true. A well-run study at a hospital in Karachi, Cairo, or Lagos is real research. What programs care about is whether you can describe it clearly and whether your description is accurate.

If your research was done at a hospital or university back home, write out the full name and city. Then explain the study design, because the reader probably hasn’t heard of the institution and needs to understand what kind of work it was.

If you worked remotely with a team in another country, name the lead institution or group, say that your role was remote, and explain what you did from where you were.

Maybe you did research during medical school, during internship, or in a gap year after graduation. List it with exact dates. If it happened during a gap, this has a nice side effect: it shows programs how you used that time.

Not everyone can get a formal research position, and that’s okay. Volunteering on a study, joining a student research group, or working on a small project with a local mentor all count, as long as you did real work.

And if a project never got published? List it anyway as an experience and describe the methods you used.

Programs don’t all value research the same way, and not every program expects US research. Your goal is to show that you understand how research works and that you follow through on things.

What if you have no publications?

You can still show research experience. Put your research roles under Experiences, describe what you did in detail, and only list real outputs under Scholarly Work. Don’t list a draft as published. Don’t add your name to a paper you didn’t work on. Don’t call a submitted abstract a presentation. Anyone can look you up on PubMed in a few seconds, and one fake entry will hurt you much more than an empty section.

Common Research CV Mistakes to Avoid

Before you hit submit, read through your entries and look for these:

• The same output listed more than once for no good reason
• An author position or a task that isn’t accurate
• Mixing up submitted, accepted, and published
• Missing dates, or citations written in different styles
• A journal, DOI, or PubMed record you haven’t double-checked
• A project you can’t really explain

That last one is easy to miss. Anything on your application is fair game in an interview. You might be asked how the study was designed, what you did, what it found, and what its weaknesses were. So reread your papers and abstracts before interview season starts. It also helps to set up an ORCID iD so all your publications sit together under one profile.

Research CV Checklist and Template

Before you open MyERAS, fill out this template for each project. One copy per project is easiest.

• Project or publication title:
• Role, institution, and mentor or PI:
• Start and end dates:
• Study design and methods used:
• What I did:
• Output and current status (checked):
• Citation, DOI or PMID, or conference details:
• What I learned and could talk about in an interview:

Then run through this quick check:

• Each citation matches the published version, author order included.
• Each DOI or PMID opens the right article.
• Each status (submitted, accepted, published) is accurate as of today.
• Your experience entries describe your own work, not the whole team’s.
• Your dates are the same on your CV, in MyERAS, and in your letters.
• You could talk about each project for a couple of minutes without notes.

The AAMC updates its rules from time to time, so look over the official MyERAS Scholarly Work instructions before you submit.

Final Thoughts on Your Research CV

You don’t need a long list of publications to have a good research CV for residency. You need accurate entries, descriptions that show what you actually did, and a status for every output that you can prove. Sit down with the checklist, clean up anything vague, and make sure every project on your list is one you’d be happy to talk about.

If you’re working on your application right now, take a look at the other American Academy of Research & Academics guides on ERAS experiences, research methodology, and residency interview prep.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How do you list research experience on a residency CV?

Write down your role, the institution, your dates, what the study was about, what you did, and what came out of it. In MyERAS, research roles go in the Experiences section.

Q2. Does research count if it has not been published?

Yes, it does. Unpublished research still shows you’ve done real research work. List it as an experience and describe your tasks, but don’t call it a publication.

Q3. How do you list a poster presentation on ERAS?

Add it to the Scholarly Work section as a poster. You’ll need the title, the authors in the right order, the conference name, the location, and the date.

Q4. Can you list an ongoing research project on a residency CV?

Yes. Add it as an experience, use “present” for the end date, and describe the work you’ve done so far. Wait until there’s an actual output before adding anything to Scholarly Work.

Q5. Should publications and research experience be listed separately?

Yes. The experience entry is about your role. The publication or presentation is about what the project produced. One project can easily have entries in both sections.

Q6. How can IMGs strengthen a research CV without publications?

Start by describing your research roles in honest detail. Make sure you understand the methods in your projects well enough to explain them. If you can, work with a mentor to finish at least one project. A case report or a small review is often a realistic place to start.

Q7. Do you need a DOI to list a publication?

No, not always. Some journals and abstracts don’t have DOIs. If yours has a DOI or PMID, include it. If not, give a full citation so someone can find the work.

Q8. What is the difference between an abstract and a peer-reviewed article?

An abstract is a summary of a study, usually sent to a conference. A peer-reviewed article is a full paper that a journal sends to outside experts to check before deciding whether to publish it. Some conferences review abstracts before accepting them, but an abstract is still not a full journal article.

Disclaimer:

Articles published by American Academy of Research & Academics are prepared by our team using information from direct experience, publicly available resources, and educational references. AI tools may be used to assist with drafting, proofreading, and formatting; however, all content undergoes review and approval before publication.
The information provided is intended for educational purposes only. Requirements, policies, and processes may change over time. Readers should consult official sources for the most current information.