Science/education portraits II: Pre-tertiary and undergraduate research mentors should consider publication as project endpoint

Research experience is an important component of science education due to its many benefits1–4 from the perspective of the student or mentee; including better understanding of research process,5 increased motivation6 and active learning,7 higher cumulative grade point averages,8 and a platform for developing analytical skills and a deeper understanding of theoretical principles9 and context.10 Besides the mentee, mentors had also reported substantial benefits,11,12 which has been supported by my own experiences.13 One of the mutually beneficial research outcomes is in the form of research publications. Although it can be challenging to quantify overall research productivity in terms of publications from graduate and undergraduate research separately, it can be generally safe to expect lower publication counts from undergraduate research compared to graduate research. A survey study by Morales et al.14 on 536 faculty members showed that 39% of undergraduate research students mentored in the preceding 5 years did not publish while a survey study by Hall et al.15 on 280 graduate students showed that 13.6% did not publish. It can then be plausible to conceive that pre-undergraduate/pre-tertiary research students are less likely to publish compared to undergraduate students. However, it had been shown that scholarly publications helps students / mentees in significant ways;14 including compete more successfully as applicants to graduate school,16 and more successful research careers.17