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Publications

How to list publications on a CV

List your publications in their own part of the CV, grouped by type and numbered. Give the authors in published order, your own name in bold, then the title, journal, year, volume, issue and pages. You can add the PMID and PMCID after each citation. Schools differ on in press, submitted and preprint work.

Updated

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Group your papers by type

Each school puts peer-reviewed work first, apart from everything else, and names its own groups.

The groups each school asks for
School or templateGroups it asks for
Harvard Medical SchoolPeer-reviewed scholarship, in three groups: research investigations, other peer-reviewed scholarship and scholarship without named authorship, where a study lists you among its investigators but not its authors. Then non-peer-reviewed scholarship, professional educational materials, local clinical guidelines, thesis, preprints, and abstracts, posters and exhibits
StanfordPeer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed publications listed apart, with peer-reviewed work split into original research and other. Then book chapters, books, digital publications and abstracts
UCSFPeer reviewed publications, non-peer reviewed publications, review articles, books and chapters, other publications and significant publications, with conference abstracts in a section of their own
AAMC’s CV templateSubheadings for peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed publications, articles accepted for publication, books and monographs, and other work

Number every entry. Harvard Medical School starts the numbers again at 1 in each group. Stanford says numbering publications is very helpful, and AAMC’s template asks you to number them.

Published, in press, submitted

Which papers each school lists
StatusHarvard Medical SchoolStanfordUCSF
PublishedListListList
Accepted, not yet publishedList, as forthcomingList, as in pressList, as In Press
Submitted or in reviewLeave offList apart from published work, naming the journalMay be listed
In preparationLeave offLeave offLeave off

Harvard Medical School lists preprints posted in the last 3 years in a section of their own, each with its DOI. A preprint leaves that section once a journal accepts the paper. Stanford accepts a bioRxiv citation when it names the journal for publication.

NLM prefers “Forthcoming” to “In press” in a citation, because not all items will be printed.

Author lists and your name

List every author in the order the paper prints them. Harvard Medical School and UCSF ask you to write out the full list, without et al. For a paper with more than 50 authors, Harvard Medical School lets you shorten the list if it keeps your name and position, the first and senior authors and the total number of authors. Stanford accepts a consortium name or et al. in place of more than 20 co-authors.

Put your own name in bold. Harvard Medical School and AAMC’s template ask for it, and Stanford recommends it.

Marks tell reviewers about shared and mentored work:

  • Harvard Medical School marks co-first and co-senior authors with an asterisk (*), and lets you mark a mentee who is first author with two (**).
  • Keep the published order when you are co-first or co-senior author.
  • Explain the marks at the top or bottom of the list.

Schools also ask what you did on papers where you are a middle author. Stanford recommends a short note on each peer-reviewed research paper from the last five years where you are neither first nor senior author. The note says what you did, such as the design, the data, the analysis or the writing. UCSF asks for up to five significant recent publications, each with a description of your role.

Citation style and identifiers

Harvard Medical School’s CV follows the standards of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, which the National Library of Medicine (NLM) publishes. In that style a journal citation gives the authors, the title, the journal’s abbreviation, the date, the volume, the issue and the pages.

  • A PMID is PubMed’s number for a citation. PMIDs never change and are never reused.
  • A PMCID is the number PubMed Central gives each article it accepts. NIH-funded researchers use it to show that a paper meets NIH’s public access policy.
  • Harvard Medical School welcomes a PMID or DOI after a citation, and suggests the print citation over the online-first date once a paper is in print.
  • Harvard Medical School asks you to follow a retracted paper with “Paper retracted” and the citation of the retraction, then explain it at the end of the CV.

Abstracts and posters

  • Harvard Medical School lists abstracts and exhibits from the last 3 years that have not become full papers.
  • UCSF removes an abstract from its conference abstracts once it becomes a full-length paper.
  • Stanford lists an abstract that was also a poster or a talk in one place only.

A talk given from a selected abstract usually goes with your presentations. How to list presentations on a CV covers it.

An example bibliography

Ada Lane is an assistant professor of medicine. Here is part of her bibliography, grouped the way Harvard Medical School asks.

Part of Ada Lane’s bibliography
GroupCitation
Research investigations1. Rivera AB*, Lane A*, Okafor M. Sepsis screening in rural emergency departments. Alder Valley Med J. 2024;12(3):145-52. PMID: 00000000. PMCID: PMC0000000.
Research investigations2. Chen J**, Rivera AB, Lane A. Time to antibiotics after triage in two small hospitals. Alder Valley Med J. Forthcoming 2026.
Other peer-reviewed scholarship1. Lane A, Okafor M. Recognizing sepsis in older adults: a review. Alder Valley Med J. 2025;13(1):20-8.

Under the bibliography’s heading, her legend reads “* Co-first author. ** Mentee.” Lane A prints in bold in every citation.

Build it in ScienceDex

A paper open in the editor with its authors, journal, year, pages, author position and bibliography section, beside the Harvard Medical School format’s printed bibliography: its heading, the legend for author marks, and each group numbered from 1, with Lane A in bold.

  1. Bring your papers in. In Import from Word, PubMed or ORCID, paste PMIDs, PMCIDs or DOIs, one per line, and choose Import from PubMed. You can also upload a Word CV or import your ORCID works.

  2. Set your names. In Citation names, add each form of your name that PubMed prints. Exports print them in bold. Legend for author marks, on the same page, prints under the bibliography’s heading.

  3. Check each paper. Open a paper to set Your author position and its Bibliography section, and type any asterisks into Authors. The card shows the citation as it prints.

  4. Mark your selected works. Turn on Selected significant work for the papers your packet highlights, and add Your contribution (middle-author note) where you are a middle author.

  5. Choose what prints. The Harvard Medical School format prints each bibliography section under its own heading, numbered from 1. The AAMC format prints one numbered list. In the Export center, Citation identifiers chooses which identifiers follow each citation, and Links to PubMed links each PMID to its PubMed page in the Word file.

Faculty privacy sets out who can open your CV.

Questions

Can I list papers that are submitted or under review?

Check your school. Stanford lists submitted, in review and in revision papers apart from published work, with the journal named. UCSF allows submitted manuscripts. Harvard Medical School lists only published or accepted work, with recent preprints in a section of their own.

Should my name be in bold on my CV?

Harvard Medical School and AAMC’s CV template ask you to put your name in bold in each author list, and Stanford recommends it.

Should I include the PMID on my CV?

You can. NLM’s sample references show the PMID and PMCID as optional additions, and Harvard Medical School welcomes a PMID or DOI. NIH-funded researchers use the PMCID to show that a paper meets NIH’s public access policy.

Can I use et al. on an academic CV?

Harvard Medical School and UCSF ask for the full author list. Harvard Medical School allows a shorter list past 50 authors, and Stanford accepts a consortium name or et al. in place of more than 20 co-authors.

Should I list impact factors or citation counts?

Stanford asks faculty to leave citation metrics and impact factors off the CV. ScienceDex leaves citation counts and the relative citation ratio out of the Word file unless you set them to Added in the Export center.

Sources

  1. General Instructions for Preparation of the Faculty of Medicine Curriculum Vitae Harvard Medical School. Read .
  2. CV Guidelines for Appointments, Reappointments, and Promotions Stanford Medicine. Read .
  3. School of Medicine Guidelines for Annotating Middle Author Publications Stanford Medicine. Read .
  4. The UCSF CV in the Advance Application UCSF Faculty Academic Affairs. Read .
  5. Create My CV AAMC. Read .
  6. Samples of Formatted References for Authors of Journal Articles National Library of Medicine. Read .
  7. NIH Public Access and PMC PubMed Central, NCBI. Read .
  8. PubMed User Guide NCBI. Read .

Bring your papers into your CV

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