How do I know whether my work suits a review article? Do I need my own original articles on the topic?

First, it is true that some top journals do not accept unsolicited reviews and consider only those the editor invites. If you are just starting out, don't aim there yet. Many journals still accept unsolicited reviews.

Second, unsolicited reviews are more likely to be published in a few situations:

• You have published three or more papers in the field. You have contributed to it and have your own ideas and arguments. When your review goes out for peer review, people in the field have probably seen your name and know who you are. Your review also cites your own papers. (Tsai IC, et al. Neonatal cardiac multidetector row CT: why and how we do it. Pediatr Radiol. 2008;38:438-451.)
• You have not published in the field, but your clinical work is truly excellent, your images are beautiful and instructive, and the review has real practical value for readers. (Tsai IC, et al. CT-guided core biopsy of lung lesions: a primer. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2009;193:1228-1235.)
• You have not published in the field, but you have seen a pattern in the current literature that no one else has noticed. This is best presented quantitatively, as a systematic review and meta-analysis. For example, to experience what a new junior doctor goes through, I once tried a completely new field I did not know, nutritional supplements, to see how a young doctor who knows nothing can get started. (Tsai IC, et al. The effect of curcumin differs on individual cognitive domains across different patient populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pharmaceuticals. 2021;14(12):1235.)

In fact, SCI-indexed journals do not reject a manuscript because you are a resident. When you submit, you give your institution, and nothing reveals that you are a resident. When I was a resident I was I-Chen Tsai, MD, and as an attending I was still I-Chen Tsai, MD.

If a resident's manuscript is rejected, it is more likely because the paper reads like a beginner's work. But don't be discouraged. Looking back on my experience reviewing more than a hundred papers, many attendings at well-known medical centers around the world still write papers that read like a beginner's. This is not about rank or status; it is purely about writing skill and academic experience.