Research and Presentation/Publication Requirements

• The primary goal is to assist higher trainees develop fundamental research knowledge and skills.

• The Research Committee appreciates that the nature and standard of the trainees’ research projects may vary widely. The minimum requirements are set to ensure that the trainee takes an active and meaningful role in the research activities.

• The Committee will only approve projects during May and November meetings annually.

• Approved Progress Reports do NOT count as completed Reports.

RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS

• Higher Trainees must complete at least two research projects approved by the Research Committee before they can enroll for examinations.

• Higher Trainees MUST be the Principal Investigator (PI) of at least one submitted project.
• Projects should be completed within two years. Trainees may apply to the Research Committee for an one-year extension if necessary.
• NO SHARING of research project is allowed. Each project could be claimed and submitted by ONE trainee.
• A Research Project of which the Higher Trainee is the Co-investigator (Co-I) will only be accepted if the PI is a non-trainee hospital staff member.
• Acceptable study types include retrospective case series (at least 20 patients), comparative cohort series (retrospective or prospective), and randomized controlled trials.
• Case reports, literature reviews, and meta-analysis submissions are discouraged but allowed if they have significant scientific value and are published in a peer-reviewed journal. The concerned Higher Trainee MUST be the first Author and only ONE such publication will be counted out of the two projects.

PRESENTATION/PUBLICATION REQUIREMENT

• Higher Trainees must meet one of the following presentation/publication requirements before they are eligible for examination enrolment:

  a. at least 1 oral presentation (excluding case reports) as the first author at the Annual Scientific Congress of the College, OR

  b. at least 2 poster presentations as the first author at the Annual Scientific Congress of the College, OR

  c. at least 1 full paper (excluding case report) publication as the first author in Surgical Practice / other peer-reviewed indexed journals.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE

• Surgical trainees are encouraged to seek assistance from the Research Committee if they encounter any difficulties in their research activities.
• Basic Surgical Trainees may submit their ongoing research reports to the Research Committee for advice during their basic training. However, such reports will not be considered complete. Only completed research reports approved by the Research Committee during higher surgical training will be counted.
• Higher Surgical Trainees may submit their research reports along with the half-yearly assessment documentation at the end of each 6-month training period. The report form can be downloaded from the College website https://www.cshk.org/ The deadline for research report submissions is typically the end of March or September every year. The College will not take responsibility for any consequences if trainees fail to receive messages sent to their email addresses provided to the College or if they fail to check their email regularly.

LOGISTICS

• The research reports will be reviewed by members of the Research Committee, and assessments will be reported in a standard form.
• To ensure fairness, a research report should be assessed by a reviewer who is not working in the same institute as the trainee.
• Trainees may be randomly invited to present their projects to the Research Committee.

Approved Reports

• A certificate of completion of research requirements will be issued to trainees who have completed two research projects.
• Trainees who have completed a project will be invited to submit a full paper to the College's journal – Surgical Practice.

Reports Not Acceptable

• If a report is not approved by the first reviewer, it will be forwarded to a second reviewer from the same specialty as the trainee.
• Comments from the two reviewers will be sent to the trainee, who is encouraged to seek their advice.  The matter will be brought to the attention of the concerned supervisors.
• Trainees are expected to resubmit a revised report to the Secretariat within 3 weeks from the date of the result letter.
• The revised report will be forwarded to the same reviewers for assessment.
• If the decisions from two reviewers differ, the report will be discussed by the Research Committee.
• The Research Committee’s resolution will be forwarded to the supervisor and the Specialty Board concerned for consideration and necessary action.
• Trainees who have not completed two projects must continue submitting their progress reports to the Research Committee until they fulfill the requirements.