American Board of Medical Specialties Boards with Journal Article-Based Continuing Certification Activities
| ABMS Board | Name | Article Selection | MOC Part | No. of Articles/Year | Diplomate Requirement | Pass Score (%) | Article Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology | LLSA Assigned Articles | Expert Panel | Part II LLSA | 150–160 | 30 articles/year; 4 MCQs per article | 80 | Full text (nearly all) |
| American Board of Pediatrics | Question of the Week | Expert Editorial Team | Part II LLSA | 50 | 50 articles/year; 1 MCQ per article | 100 | Citations only |
| American Board of Emergency Medicine | EM Reading List | Expert Panel | Part II LLSA | 10–15 | 20–30 MCQs per year based on reading list | 85 | Citations only |
| American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics | Literature Review Module | Expert Panel | Part II LLSA | 5–8 articles per specialty area | 25 MCQs every 2 years | 80 | Citations only |
| American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology | 2019–2021 MOC Part III Pilot Project | Pilot Project Test Writing Committee | Part III | 160 | 30 articles/year; 5 MCQs per article | 80 | Citations only |
| American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology* | Performance Pathway | Expert Panel | Part III | 150–160 | 30 articles/year; 4 MCQs per article; 6-year cycle | 86 | Full text (nearly all) |
| American Board of Allergy and Immunology | Continuous Assessment Program | Expert Panel | Part III component | 6 articles per 8 topic areas | 10 articles/6 months; 3 MCQs per article | 80 | Full text |
| American Board of Ophthalmology | Quarterly Questions | Expert Panel | Part III component | 3 articles per 11 topic areas | 5 articles/year; 2 MCQs per article | 80 | Full text |
| American Board of Pediatrics† | MOCA-Peds-Featured Readings | Practicing pediatricians (on subboard or question writing committee) | Part III component | 1–4 articles per 8 subspecialty or practice categories | Up to 2 MCQs per article | n/a | Full text |
| ABFM (current plan) | ABFM Journal Club | Structured Process National Journal Club Committee | Part II LLSA | 100 | 4 MCQs per article | 100 | Full text |
Abbreviations: ABFM, American Board of Family Medicine; ABMS, American Board of Medical Specialties; LLSA, lifelong learning/self-assessment; MCQs, multiple choice questions; MOC, maintenance of certification; MOCA-Peds, Maintenance of Certification Assessment for Pediatrics; Part III, the Assessment of Knowledge, Judgment, and Skills part of the ABMS maintenance of certification program; n/a, not applicable; EM, Emergency Medicine.
↵* The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology initially employed a journal article-based activity as a LLSA (with a passing score of 80%). In 2019, diplomates with an aggregated first-answer pass rate of 86% or more during their 6-year certification cycle qualified them for the performance pathway exemption to the part III MOC secure exam.
↵† The American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) initially employed a journal article-based activity as a LLSA activity. In 2019, the ABP launched MOCA-Peds that included a journal article-based activity component to its online, nonproctored part III longitudinal assessment platform.