What the research profiles of this year's 6 incoming residents actually look like, by specialty relevance, authorship, and notable activity, not just publication count.
Source: https://www.carms.ca/match/r-1-main-residency-match/program-descriptions/ (2026 R-1 Main Residency Match, first iteration)
Selection weights
Selection weights not published
What the program says it looks for
- An acceptable academic record with proficiency in orthopedics
- A demonstrated interest in orthopedics
- References from specialists
- Interest and experience in both basic science and clinical research
- Communication skills
- Manual ability
Those criteria are listed for the CMG stream. The IMG stream lists academic achievement, recent graduation or advanced training, English proficiency, and knowledge of the Canadian health care system, with no research criterion shown.
Where research appears
Research sits inside the broader file review and interview assessments, which the program lists as global assessments rather than research specific scores.
Applicants and interviews
CMG stream
51 to 200applicants per year
51 to 75%interview invite rate
IMG stream
201 to 400applicants per year
0 to 25%interview invite rate
Inference, not the program's wording
Research has no separate published weight. With more than half of CMG applicants invited, research is more likely to matter at final ranking than at the invitation stage, though the program description does not show that split. With a low IMG invite rate, file review is selective, so research in the file could affect who is invited, but nothing shows it decides invitations on its own.
Gaps: the program publishes no selection weights, CaRMS lists stream quotas as approximate, and the CMG goals text was cut off in the view reviewed.
Schools are shown as a set only and are not matched to the individual research profiles below, since with a cohort this small that pairing would make individuals identifiable.
* Published after match day, most likely listed on the original application as in preparation or pending publication.
Both papers are second authored. The orthopedic one* is a systematic review of a patient-reported outcome measure for elbow conditions, published in the Journal of Orthopedics and Physiotherapy, and it is the only orthopedic relevant paper in this cohort. The other is a public health paper in Health Science Inquiry, counted as other medical, and it was published the year medical school began.
Notable: presented a conference abstract on reducing language barriers between health care providers and Indigenous communities.
* Published between March and June, potentially submitted prior to application.
Both papers are urology studies in the Canadian Urological Association Journal, a retrospective cohort study on robotic ureteral stricture repair and a survey study on kidney scoring reproducibility*. In both, the resident is a middle author, fifth on each. Neither paper is in orthopedics, so all of this record counts as other medical.
Notable: no presentations or other activity found in public sources.
* Published between March and June, potentially submitted prior to application.
Highest volume in the cohort, with 5 first authored papers and a second authored one. The record is a sustained sport injury prevention and concussion cluster, mostly video-analysis studies of contact and injury rates in youth ice hockey and ringette, one of them recent*, plus a randomized trial of a concussion education tool and two rural emergency medicine studies. Journals include the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine, Health Education and Behavior, the Journal of Sports Sciences, and the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine. None of it is orthopedic surgery proper, so the orthopedic relevant count is 0 despite the volume. Two papers were published in 2022, the year medical school began.
Notable: a kinesiology degree and a year as a research coordinator at a university sport injury prevention centre before medical school, a podcast appearance as first author of the hockey studies, planning committee work for a student health event, and several conference and poster abstracts presented.
* Published between March and June, potentially submitted prior to application.
** Published after match day, most likely listed on the original application as in preparation or pending publication.
Both papers are national program director surveys in medical education, one on pediatric residency training in Paediatrics and Child Health* (third author) and one on psychiatry residency training in Academic Psychiatry** (second author). Neither is in orthopedics, so both count as other medical, and both were published after the application cycle.
Notable: created a large flashcard resource for medical students, served as editor of a student journal, holds a health sciences honours degree, and co-authored undergraduate conference abstracts, including one in pediatric gastroenterology. Also presented the student journal at a student journal forum.
Three second authored papers from an interdisciplinary perioperative pain and addiction network, a retrospective cohort study in the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, a scoping review in Anesthesiology, and a randomized controlled trial protocol in JMIR Research Protocols. The protocol is the only one in this cohort. The fourth paper, in Neurosurgical Review, is a large international student survey with over 200 student authors. All four sit outside orthopedics and count as other medical.
One additional record of an already counted study was not counted as a separate paper.
Notable: holds a prior BSc.
No confirmed publications were found. A count of 0 does not mean none exist, only that none were found in public sources.
Reading this data
Output is concentrated in a few profiles. PGY1-C accounts for 12 of the cohort's 22 confirmed papers, more than half, and 6 of its 12 first or second authored papers, while PGY1-B and PGY1-F have none of the latter. PGY1-E is the other heavily first or second authored record, with 3 of its 4 papers in that position.
Only 1 of the 22 confirmed papers is directly relevant to orthopedic surgery. The rest sit in sport injury prevention, urology, chronic pain, public health, and medical education, so for this cohort the research record was largely built outside the specialty. Program weightings may change from year to year.
