Study Selection and Inclusion CriteriaPotential works were located through searching the following databases:ScienceDirect, ProQuest Central, ProQuest Digital
Dissertation, Academic Search Complete, ERIC,Access Medicine, Medline, and PsycINFO. The
following keywords were searched in the titles and abstracts: emotional
intelligence AND (medical students OR medical school) AND (academic
success OR performance OR GPA). Moreover, the authors reviewed the
reference list of the two
systematic reviews conducted on the same topic (i.e., Cook et al., 2016;
Singh et al., 2020). This search resulted in locating 180 works. After
removing the duplicates, we obtained 123 items (113 journal articles, 7
reports, 1 magazine, 1 conference material, and 1 dissertation). Five
criteria were applied on these 123 works: First, the articles were
written English. Second, they reported sufficient statistics to
calculate the effect size (Pearson r). Third, they examine the
association between emotional intelligence as assessed by a number of
well-known EI tests and scales and academic success/achievement
defined in terms of GPA or achievement exam(s). Fourth, the search
included both published and unpublished works; however, only one
dissertation was found, which was excluded because it assessed the
relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership
(Reyes-Dominguez, 2008). Finally, we only included studies that were
conducted with undergraduate medical students pursuing their MD. All
studies that were conducted on graduate medical students or nursing
students were excluded (e.g., Cheshire et al., 2015; Doherty et al.,
2013). Applying these criteria brought the number down to 20 studies
published between January 2005 to December 2021 (see Figure 1).
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