You will use ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) to apply to residency as a 4th year medical student.

If you are applying to Emergency Medicine or OB/GYN, you will use ResidencyCAS (Residency Centralized Application Service).

Worksheets for ERAS and ResidencyCAS are updated each year. 

These are the publication types in ERAS, listed here from most to least likely to be entered by applicants. An example of each type has been included.

• Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles/Abstracts
  • A typical journal article
• Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles/Abstracts (Other Than Published) 
  • A typical journal article not yet published
  • Choose the publication status: Submitted, Provisionally Accepted, Accepted, In Press
• Poster Presentation
  • A typical poster presented at a conference
• Oral Presentation
  • Presentations at conferences
• Peer-Reviewed Online Publication
  • For example, an abstract that went through peer-review before presentation and is published online, often as a supplementary issue
• Non-Peer-Reviewed Online Publication
  • Ex: Proceedings of IMPRS 
• Peer-Reviewed Book Chapter
  • A chapter of a book, peer-reviewed by the book editor(s)
• Scientific Monograph
  • A book, thesis, or dissertation published by your university press
• Other Articles
  • Anything not covered above

Feel free to email the Ruth Lilly Medical Library (MedLRef@iu.edu) if you are unsure of how to categorize your works.

These are the publication types in ResidencyCAS. Below are some helpful information about each type.

• Published peer-reviewed journal articles/abstracts
  • A typical journal article
• Submitted or accepted peer-reviewed journal articles/abstracts
  • A typical journal article not yet published
  • Choose the publication status: Submitted or Accepted
• Book chapters
  • A chapter of a book
• Other published works
  •  Online Publication 
    • Ex: Proceedings of IMPRS 
    • An abstract that went through peer-review before presentation and is published online, often as a supplementary issue
  •  Scientific Monograph
    •  A book, thesis, or dissertation published by your university press
  • Anything not covered above
• Presentations
  • A  poster presented at a conference
  • An oral presentation at a conference

Feel free to email the Ruth Lilly Medical Library (MedLRef@iu.edu) if you are unsure of how to categorize your works.

In ERAS, each publication type has a field for a URL. If you do not have a URL for some of your works, consider uploading a PDF of your poster or conference slides to our institutional repository, IU Indianapolis ScholarWorks.

Your upload will be approved by a librarian. Upon approval, a permanent link will be created for your works that you can use in ERAS, your CV, your ORCID profile, and it will appear in your Google Scholar profile. See the "Upload to IU Indy ScholarWorks" tab on the left side of this page to learn more.

Since the URL field is optional for posters and other publication types, many applicants may skip it. This could be an opportunity to help you stand out!

Answers are provided by the Scholarly Communications librarian, Hannah Craven. They are her expert opinions and there is not necessarily a write or wrong answer for every question.

Q: My paper is published "ePub ahead of print" and doesn't have issue/volume/page numbers. What should I do?
A: Still enter this as "Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles/Abstracts". Issue, volume, and page numbers are required fields. Enter either a "0" or "N/A" for issue and volume. For page number, put how many pages the PDF of your article is, e.g. 1-12. 

Q: I wasn’t the one who presented this at the conference. Can I still add it to ERAS?
A: Yes! If you are listed as a co-author it is CV-worthy and ERAS worthy.

Q: Can I add a publication that hasn’t been published yet?
A: Yes, enter it under "Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles/Abstracts (Other Than Published)" and select the appropriate publication status: Submitted, Provisionally Accepted, Accepted, In Press.

Q: Can I add a conference presentation that hasn’t been presented yet?
A: The "Poster Presentation" and "Oral Presentation" categories do not have a field for publication status, so no. Only add it if it has been officially accepted, and include the future date of the day it will be presented. 

Q: Can I add works in progress (not yet submitted)?
A: Not in the publication section. For projects still in the writing phase, you can put the citation for the project as a bullet point under the research description in the experiences section. This lets reviewers know something is on the way!

Q: If you got a publication, presentation/poster out of 1 project should you list it multiple times in ERAS i.e under each category?
A: Yes, they are distinct pieces of work. Typically, a poster/presentation is preliminary results and the published paper is the final product.

Q: If one project is presented at multiple conferences do you make a separate citation for each conference?
A: In my opinion, yes. List each conference presentation as a separate entry in ERAS. Note that abstracts in conference booklets do not count as publications. Whenever possible, take the next step by developing your poster into a manuscript for submission, as publications carry greater weight

Q: Can I include a video I created that is available on YouTube?
A: Yes, I recommend putting it under "Non-Peer-Reviewed Online Publication". If this is a video of a conference presentation, then put it under "Oral Presentation" instead.

Q: I presented at a virtual conference but the location is a required field in ERAS. What do I do?
A: At the end of the conference name, you can put [virtual] at the end in brackets. Since location is required you can put where the association holding the conference is based.
E.g. Event/Meeting: American Medical Women's Association Annual Meeting [virtual]; Country: United States of America; State: Pennsylvania; City: Philadelphia

Q: If I was acknowledged in a work, can I list it as a publication?
A: Not in ERAS. Traditionally, a CV will have a section for acknowledgments, but not ERAS.

Still have questions? Email MedLRef@iu.edu