The Impact of a Research Year on Scholarly Output Among 2025 Otolaryngology Residency Applicants

OBJECTIVE: Research productivity among otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) residency applicants has increased substantially in recent years, alongside growing participation in dedicated research years. However, the extent to which a research year contributes to meaningful scholarly output remains unclear. This study characterizes and compares research productivity among OHNS residency applicants with and without a dedicated research year. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed applicants to a single OHNS residency program during the 2025 application cycle. Applicants were categorized by completion of a dedicated research year. Students with ambiguous reasons for a gap in medical education (e.g., personal) were excluded. Research products listed in ERAS were categorized by type, authorship, publication status, and presentation characteristics. Outcomes were compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and reported as medians with interquartile ranges (IQR). RESULTS: The median number of total research products among all 196 applicants was 26 [IQR 17-37]. Applicants with a dedicated research year (n = 55) had more total research products than those without (n = 90) (32 [21-37] vs. 24 [15.75-37]), comprised primarily by unpublished work (5 [3-8] vs. 3 [1-5]) and oral presentations (6 [3-9] vs. 4 [2-7]). Published articles (5.5 [3-11] vs. 7 [3-12]) and first-author manuscripts (Median 1) did not differ significantly between groups. CONCLUSION: A dedicated research year is associated with modestly increased research productivity among OHNS applicants; however, this increase is largely driven by unpublished and middle author work. These findings suggest that volume-based metrics may incompletely capture scholarly engagement and may contribute to increased expectations without proportionate gains in research experience. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: N/A.