Characteristics and publication patterns of theses from a Peruvian medical school

"Publish or Perish": barriers to research publication in an undergraduate medical research program

OBJECTIVES

Publication is one of the crucial parameters in research, and the inability to publish has been noted in many medical students' projects due to different reasons. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the obstacles that prevented medical students in a health science university from publishing their research from 2018 to 2021. First, an online survey was distributed to assess the obstacles to publication perceived by the medical students. Second, a total of 81 research projects were evaluated by scientific reviewers and their final decision about the publication was recorded.

RESULTS

In total, 162 students filled out the survey. The barriers faced by the students were various. They included an unsupportive research supervisor, a lack of time, an insufficient sample size, and many others. In the reviewer's evaluation, out of 81 projects, 70 projects (86.4%) were recommended to be published after minor or major modifications, while 11 projects (13.6%) were rejected due to poor writing style, poor results interpretation, and incorrect methodology.

CONCLUSION

Articulating the barriers to undergraduate medical research publication is important in boosting publication rates and research experience of graduating medical students. Medical research educators and research supervisors should strongly consider creating a framework that tackles existing obstacles and any future matters.

Research attitudes, knowledge, experiences, and barriers among health science students at King Khalid University, Southwest of Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Research is a systematic process to achieve new knowledge, science, or invention. Training in health research is an important part of medical education. This study aimed to evaluate the attitudes, knowledge, experiences, and barriers related to research among the health science students at King Khalid University, Abha. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 632 health science students of different colleges of King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia. From each study level, approximately 25% of the total number of students was selected using a systematic random sampling method. Tests for associations between different scale items and the type of college were used. The majority of students were mainly aged between 20 to 25 years and were males. Statistically significant differences in age distribution among the colleges (P < .05) were found. Regarding students attitudes towards research, 80.5% of the students agreed that research gives them a better understanding of the world. About 79.6% of the total students agreed that every physician, dentist, and pharmacist should be familiar with the scientific methods of research. Statistical significant differences were found in attitudes toward research among different colleges (P < .05). Overall 56.3% of the students recorded a positive attitude regarding research. Only 2.8% of the students had a good knowledge level regarding research and 66.5% had a poor knowledge level. Considering research experience, 50.9% of the overall students self-reported that they did research during their undergraduate phase. About 22% of the students recorded a high experience level regarding research, 41.9% had a moderate level and 36.9% had a low level of experience. Lack of research experience was the most commonly recorded barrier (80.5%) followed by lack of training on how to do research (72.7%). Training on research and adequate support in student research activities at the undergraduate level may help to reduce the identified barriers to research.

Engagement in radiation therapy research: What happens after graduation?

BACKGROUND

To prepare undergraduate radiation therapy (RT) students for the professional role of Scholarly Practitioner the University of Alberta's Radiation Therapy Program (RADTH) provides research education, and students conduct novel research studies during their final practicum year with the final result being a publishable paper. A curriculum evaluation project was carried out to examine the impact of the RADTH undergraduate research education by examining the final outcomes of these research projects and whether the learners carried out further research after graduation.

METHODS

Alumni who graduated from 2017 to 2020 were surveyed to seek information on the dissemination of their research projects, whether the projects resulted in a change to practice, policy, or patient care, if subsequent research has been performed by the graduates, and the motivators or barriers to conducting research post-graduation. A subsequent manual search of publication databases was conducted to fill in data gaps pertaining to publications.

RESULTS

All RADTH research projects have been disseminated by conference presentation and/or publication. One project was reported to have had an impact on practice, with no impact reported for five projects and two respondents not sure about any impact. All respondents reported they have not participated in any new research projects since graduation. Barriers listed included: limited local opportunity, lack of topic ideas, other professional development, no interest in research, COVID impact, and lack of research knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS

RADTH's research education curriculum successfully enables the RT students to conduct and disseminate research. All RADTH projects have been successfully disseminated by the graduates. However, participation in research post-graduation is not occurring due to a variety of factors. While MRT education programs are required to develop research skills, this education alone may not alter motivation nor ensure research participation post-graduation. Exploring other avenues of professional scholarship may be key to ensuring contribution to evidence-informed practice.

Allied Health Professional Students' Perceptions on Research: A Multi-disciplinary Mixed-Methods Study

Introduction

Modern medicine necessitates evidence-based interdisciplinary patient care. Research is at the centre of fostering an evidence-based mindset in healthcare teams. Studies have demonstrated that exposing students to research translates into better patient care. Studies investing the perceptions of students towards research have focused on the views of medical students, leaving the perceptions of allied health professional (AHP) students unaccounted for.

Methods

A mixed-methods, anonymous online questionnaire was distributed to 837 AHP students studying at the University of Malta, across five different courses. The collected data was then statistically analysed through descriptive statistics and chi-square testing. Qualitative results were coded, triangulated and subsequently analysed.

Results

An overall response rate of 28.43% was achieved. Only 2.49% of respondents managed to publish research, despite many participants stating that research is important for their future careers. Career progression and lack of opportunity were identified as the major motivating and stumbling factors, respectively. Students pursuing research-focused degrees considered their curriculum to sufficiently equip them with research skills, compared to students studying clinically oriented degrees (p < 0.01).

Conclusion

The results obtained from this study indicate that the perceptions of AHP students towards research are on par with the already established medical students. AHP students face the same stumbling blocks, are driven by the same motivating factors and experience a similar disparity between interest in research and research being produced, as medical students. Thus, a joint effort, between stakeholders in medical and AHP students' education, should be taken to address the factors limiting undergraduate students from conducting research. This will enable the implementation of an evidence-based mindset in the clinic, ultimately resulting in better patient care.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-022-01715-6.

Reporting quality of Master of Medicine (MMed) mini-dissertations using the STROBE checklist

Background. The 2011 Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) directive to make a research component compulsory for specialist registration has been decried in some circles as encouraging low-quality research.Objective. To assess the reporting quality of South African (SA) MMed mini-dissertations using the STROBE checklist.Methods. A total of 100 monograph-format mini-dissertations reporting retrospective observational research were extracted from a pool of 335 mini- dissertations. Analysis of each was undertaken using a 24-point STROBE Statement checklist. Scoring was as follows: 1 = the item was compliant with STROBE recommendations; 0.5 = partially described; and 0 = not addressed at all. Satisfactory compliance was set at 66%, thus a STROBE score of 17-24 was considered satisfactory. Data were entered into an Excel spread sheet and analysed descriptively. Results. STROBE item compliance for individual mini-dissertations was at a mean of 83.1%; range 50-97%; median 85% and mode 89%. Sixteen mini- dissertations were non-compliant, scoring below 17 as per the set threshold of 66%. This indicates an 84% satisfactory sample. Only Item 5 (Key settings and locations) was at 100% compliance. The four lowest scores were for STROBE items (9) Bias (29.5%); (10) Study size/power analysis (52%); (1) Title (69%) and (14) Missing data (69%). Conclusion. The majority of sampled mini-dissertations, evaluated as per STROBE recommendations, are transparently reported to allow the reader to follow what was planned, done, found and which conclusions were drawn. As such the results confer a measure of reporting quality on the SA MMed research endeavour. The use of dissertation templates, commonly using STROBE-type headings and prompts, might have contributed to the good scores obtained. Importantly, areas of weakness in the writing of the SA MMed mini-dissertations have been highlighted and show which items require attention.

Scholarly Output in Peruvian National Dentistry according to Gender Disparity: A 10-Year Bibliometric Study

Objective. To evaluate Peruvian scientific publications in dentistry according to sex disparity (2011-2020). Methods. This was a retrospective bibliometric study. The unit of analysis was made up of Peruvian dentistry publications indexed in the Scopus database during the last 10 years. Records with metadata (410) corresponding to the period 2011-2020 were downloaded and standardized and refined by analyzing the metadata. The search strategy was developed based on the individual profiles of each Peruvian institution that has a dental school or college. It was evaluated according to the AF-ID of each institution in the Scopus database. In addition, the information provided by the Scopus SciVal tool was used. Finally, publications, impact, and collaboration indicators were used, such as total number per document, per author, average of citations, $h$ -index, collaboration rate, number of institutions, the Source Normalized Impact per Paper indicator, the CiteScore, and the Scopus Field-Weighted Citation Impact. Results. The greatest increase was evident in 2018, with 2019 and 2020 being the maximum peak of scientific publication growth. However, sustained growth has not been evidenced in relation to the female sex. The analysis of coauthorship by the authors revealed four large clusters, of which the first three were represented by male researchers, such as Arriola-Guillen L., Mayta-Tovalino F., and Mendoza-Azpur G., and one by a female, Guerrero María E. Evaluating the national scientific publication in dentistry according to the CiteScore, it was found that most of the publications (145) from Peru were published in Q4 journals, although 90 manuscripts were published in Q1 journals. Conclusions. The Peruvian national dental publication in the last 10 years was mainly supported by male dentists, which invites us to reflect on the need to equalize opportunities so that female researchers can also reduce these gaps.

Toward scientific dissemination of undergraduate thesis in physical therapy programs - a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The execution of undergraduate thesis is a period in which students have an opportunity to develop their scientific knowledge. However, many barriers could prevent the learning process. This cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the scientific dissemination of results from undergraduate theses in physical therapy programs and verify the existence of barriers and challenges in the preparation of undergraduate thesis. Second, to investigate whether project characteristics and thesis development barriers were associated with the dissemination of undergraduate thesis results.

METHODS

Physical therapists who graduated as of 2015, from 50 different educational institutions, answered an online questionnaire about barriers faced during the execution of undergraduate thesis and about scientific dissemination of their results.

RESULTS

Of 324 participants, 43% (n = 138) of participants disseminated their results, and the main form of dissemination was publishing in national journals (18%, n = 58). Regarding the barriers, 76% (n = 246) of participants reported facing some difficulties, and the main challenge highlighted was the lack of scientific knowledge (28%, n = 91). Chances of dissemination were associated with barriers related to scientific understanding and operational factors, such as the type of institution, institutional facilities, and involvement with other projects.

CONCLUSION

Scientific knowledge seems to be a determining factor for the good development of undergraduate theses. In addition, it is clear the need to stimulate more qualified dissemination that reaches a larger audience. Changes in operational and teaching factors may improve the undergraduate thesis quality. However, the importance of rethinking scientific education within physical therapy programs draws attention.

Medical Students' Perceptions on Research: Results from a Small European Island State

BACKGROUND

A crucial aspect of medical education is research training. Many studies have been conducted targeting the publishing rate among medical students, but information is lacking about the perceptions of medical students towards research, especially of students studying in small island states. This study aims to investigate students' perceptions towards research and increase the insight on what motivates and hinders medical students to conduct research.

METHODS

An anonymous mixed-methods cross-sectional online questionnaire was distributed to five hundred and forty-nine medical students studying at the University of Malta. The data gathered was statistically analysed and consequently interpreted.

RESULTS

A response rate of 25.05% was achieved, with 10.00% of students having already published their research. Despite 86.43% of students interested in conducting research, only 22.86% have pursued a research endeavour. The main reason for conducting research was 'out of students' own interest'. The main barrier hindering students from conducting research was perceived as the absence of research opportunities.

DISCUSSION

Medical students have a positive attitude towards the conduction of research, to enhance their medical education. Hence, identification of potential barriers hindering medical students from conducting research should be sought out and hands-on research opportunities should be provided, on an elective basis, to pursue their research interest.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-021-01426-4.

Bibliometric Study of the National Scientific Production of All Peruvian Schools of Dentistry in Scopus

Objective

To perform a bibliometric analysis of the national scholarly output of all dental schools in Peru in Scopus through a retrospective study after the promulgation of the Peruvian University Law 30220 in 2014.

Methods

This was a descriptive, comparative, retrospective, and cross-sectional study. A search of the Scopus database was performed to identify scholarly output in dentistry between 2014 and 2019. A total of 287 scientific articles with affiliation with the dental faculties of Peruvian public and private universities were evaluated. The data was extracted from Scopus using a complex formula developed from the words of the thesaurus MeSh (Medline) and Emtree (base) with words related to dentistry combined with the AF-IDs of the Peruvian universities.

Results

The Top 10 in the scholarly output of all the Peruvian public and private dental schools were as follows: firstly, the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), with 79 scholarly outputs publications and 5.2 citations per article, followed by the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) with 53 scholarly outputs publications and 2.6 citations per article, and in third place, the Universidad Cientifica del Sur (UCSUR) with 49 scholarly outputs publications. In general, it was found that, of the 30 Faculties of Dentistry in Peru, only 10 in the public and private universities have a scholarly output greater than 5 to belong to the top 10. In addition, it was found that, according to the share of publications per journal quartile by the CiteScore Percentile of all the public and private Peruvian Faculties of Dentistry, in 2019, it presented the highest number of scientific publications in all quartiles with 20,33,14 and 43 articles in the quartiles Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, respectively. The highest number of scientific publications was produced in 2019 with 20, 33, 14, and 43 articles in quartiles Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, respectively.

Conclusion

The UPCH, UNMSM, and UCSUR dental schools were the most productive. Both public and private universities presented an evident increase in their scientific publications in Scopus after the promulgation of the University Law 30220 in 2014.

Factors Affecting Undergraduates' Participation in Medical Research in Lagos

Background:

The current situation regarding the scope and contribution of undergraduate medical research to the health space in Nigeria is still largely unreported in formal literature. This study examined the knowledge, attitudes, and the perceived barriers faced by medical students in Lagos toward research.

Materials and Methods:

A cross-sectional study design was conducted among all medical students in 200–600 levels of study at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. With the aid of Self-administered questionnaires, we examined their knowledge of research and the analytical tools used in research, their attitudes and the perceived barriers to their participation in research.

Results:

The data were obtained from 221 medical students, of whom 52.9% had prior involvement in research and 14.0% and 6.3% had presented or published their research, respectively. The overall knowledge of medical research was low (21.3%) and reported barriers included lack of funding for research' (79.6%), “lack of research and biostatistics curriculum” (76.0%), “inadequate training in research methodology” (74.7%), “insufficient time allocation to undergraduate research” (73.3%), “lack of professional supervisors and proper mentoring” (58.8%), and “lack of equipped laboratory facilities to conduct research” (77.8%).

Conclusion:

Our results highlight the need for more mentored supervision and training to improve their knowledge of the principles and techniques of clinical research to increase involvement.

An analysis of general surgery theses set up between years 1998-2018 in Turkey: Evidence levels and publication rates of 1996 theses

Objectives

Setting up and advocating a thesis is mandatory at the end of the residency training program to become a specialist in general surgery according to the regulations on medical specialization in Turkey. Writing a thesis helps the resident to learn to ask structured questions, assembling the most accurate study design, managing the study process, collecting the results and building a conclusion with medical implications. In this descriptive study, we aimed to investigate the publication rates of the theses written in the field of general surgery and to assess the properties of the published theses.

Material and Methods

We performed an online search on September 1, 2018, about the theses of general surgery residents on the website of National Thesis data center of Academic Educational Board in Turkey including theses of medical residents in university-affiliated hospitals and analyzed theses accomplished between 1998-2018. The publication status of the theses was assessed by the entry of author name, the title of the theses and keywords of the theses by using the search engines of PubMed, Google Scholar and Turkish Academic Network and Information Center Turkish Database (ULAKBIM). Data were presented in a descriptive form as absolute numbers and percentages.

Results

Between 1998-2018, 1996 theses were completed. 393 (20.5%) of these were published in a journal, and 288 (14.4%) were published in a journal indexed in SCI/SCIE. According to research methodologies, 79.2% of the experimental studies were published in SCI/SCIE indexed journals.

Conclusion

Publication rates of the theses in the field of general surgery are low as they are in other specialties of medicine. This descriptive study might give an idea about the low scientific publication rates of general surgery theses. Further studies are needed to understand the underlying factors, which are responsible for this scant scientific performance.

The scientific production of medical students in Lima, Peru

BACKGROUND

Research is an important undergraduate competence for physicians. However, few studies have assessed the scientific production of medical students in Latin-America. Thus, this study had the objective to assess the rate and characteristics of research publications by undergraduate medical students in 2016, in Lima, Peru.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included all the students of the eight medical schools in Lima (Peru). The medical students included were collected from the registry of the National Medical Examination (taken during their last year of undergraduate studies) in 2016. To evaluate their research publications, systematic searches were performed in Google Scholar and PubMed during August 2018.

RESULTS

We studied data from 1241 medical students (54.2% females) from eight medical schools. 173 (13.9%) students published at least one paper, 102 (8.2%) published at least one original paper, and 30 (2.4%) published at least one original paper in PubMed-Indexed journals. We registered a total of 174 papers authored by medical students, of which 98 (56.3%) were published in Peruvian journals, 128 (73.6%) were published in Spanish, 90 (51.7%) had a medical student as the first author, and 43 (24.7%) had a medical student as the corresponding author. The percentage of students with at least one publication was very heterogeneous across the eight medical schools evaluated (63.6%, 21.4%, 16.8%, 15.1%, 8.2%, 2.0%, 1.9%, and 0.0%).

CONCLUSION

Among medical students in Lima, one out of seven had published at least one paper, one out of 12 had published at least one original paper, and one out of 40 had published at least one original paper in PubMed-Indexed journals. Scientific production was very heterogeneous across medical schools.

Publication rates of dissertations written in medical faculties of Turkey in the field of urology between the years 2008, and 2011, and citation analysis: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

In our country, preparing dissertation is essential for the research assistants in order to complete their expertise in medicine. It is aimed to produce hypothesis for researchers via writing their dissertations, to collect data for the hypothesis established, to make the analysis and interpretation of these data, and to gain the ability for the comparison of the findings obtained with the literature. In this study, we want to investigate the publication rates and citations of urology dissertations that are written at the university hospitals in our country between 2008 and 2011.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Urology dissertations that are written at the university hospitals between 2008 and 2011 were reviewed by entering the website of Board of Higher Education Dissertation between 23-27 March 2017 and 229 dissertations were reported. The publication rates of these dissertations were analysed.

RESULTS

Hundred and fourteen of 229 dissertations (49.7%) analysed were published. Of these publications, 75 (32.7%) in Science Citation Index Expanded, 24 (10.4%) in international, 15 (6.5%) are published in national indexed peer-reviewed journals. While the publication rate of 81 dissertations written in universities located in 3 metropolitan cities (Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir) of Turkey was 50.6%, the publication rate of 148 dissertations written in remaining universities was 49.3%; and no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups (p=0.96).

CONCLUSION

Preparing dissertation is a challenging process that requires considerable effort and time. At the end of this process, it is necessary to publish the dissertation in order to have it reach more people and to contribute to the literature. Even though publication rate of dissertations written in urology at university hospitals in Turkey was at acceptable level, there have still been problems required to solve.

Dissemination of results from medical student public health research training and factors associated with publication

Purpose

To examine factors associated with successful publications resulting from mandatory public health research training attachment, the Trainee Intern Health Care Evaluation (TIHE) projects, at the University of Otago, Dunedin School of Medicine, New Zealand.

Methods

A total of 227 TIHE projects completed during the period from January 1985 to December 2013 were included in the study. In February 2016, Medline and Google Scholar databases were searched independently by both authors for publications using predefined search criteria.

Results

Overall, 25 (11.1%) out of 227 projects resulted in 19 articles, 3 conference presentations/abstracts and 4 cited report abstracts. Nineteen (8.4%) projects resulted in 22 peer-reviewed journal publications, the majority of which were original articles (86.4%). The number of projects commissioned by a client was independently associated with the likelihood of publication, conference abstract or citation of the project report (OR 1.40; P<0.01, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.71). The number of authors and the number of non-student authors were positively associated with publication in higher impact journals, while student first-authored articles were more likely to be published in lower impact journals. Projects completed in more recent years were more likely to be published.

Conclusions

Mandatory medical student research experiences promote tangible research output. These findings may help to influence policy around the introduction of required medical school research and facilitate encouraging academic careers among medical students. Future research could focus on examining how different student-related, supervisor-related and programme-related factors influence publication rates from mandatory medical student research attachments.

Assessing the Awareness of Egyptian Medical Students about Responsible Conduct of Research and Research Ethics: Impact of an Educational Campaign

This is a quasi-experimental pre-post assessment study utilizing an anonymous self-administered questionnaire to assess Egyptian medical students' awareness about responsible conduct of research (RCR) and research ethics. Students' were assessed before and after an RCR awareness campaign. Our results showed that most of the pre-campaign respondents were not familiar with the basic principles and terms of RCR. An increase in the awareness about RCR across all discussed topics was noted following the campaign. We concluded that an educational awareness campaign is effective in increasing medical students' awareness about RCR and should be incorporated into current medical school curricula in Egypt.

An analysis of orthopaedic theses in Turkey: Evidence levels and publication rates

Background

The aim of this study was to present characteristics and publication patterns of studies arise from orthopedic theses obtained from National Thesis Center; database in terms of publication years, study types, topics, level of evidence between 1974 and 2014.

Methods

Firstly, National Thesis Center database was searched for orthopedics and Traumatology theses. The theses, which their summary or full text were available were included in the study. The topics, study types and quality of study designs were reviewed. Then theses were searched in the PubMed database. Journals of published theses were classified according to category, scope and impact factors of the year 2014.

Results

1508 theses were included into the study. Clinical studies comprised 71,7% of the theses, while 25,6% of the theses were non-clinical experimental and 2,7% of the theses were observational studies. Clinical studies were Level I in 8,6% (n = 93) and Level II in 5,8% of the theses (n = 63). A total of 224 theses (14,9%) were published in the journals indexed in PubMed database from 1974 to 2012. Fifty-two (23,2%) were published in SCI; 136 theses (60,7%) were published in SCI-E journals and 36 theses (16%) were published in other Journals indexed in PubMed.

Conclusion

The quantity and quality of published theses need to be improved and effective measures should be taken to promote quality of theses. Theses from universities and Training hospitals which did not allow open access, and; incomplete records of the National Thesis Center database were major limitations of this study.

Call to Publish in an Undergraduate Medical Course: Dissemination of the Final-Year Research Project

PROBLEM

Today's medical doctors must not only have the clinical skills to treat patients effectively but also keep current with new advances in medicine and critically analyze evidence to choose the best treatments and explain the risks and benefits of different options. In this article, we aim to share the approach taken at a Portuguese medical school to promote a close connection between research and learning.

INTERVENTION

In a blended-learning approach, students studied research and scientific methods and undertook one of three faculty-supervised research and dissemination projects. To support immediate application of new research knowledge, students were offered optional short lectures and problem sets. All course information was featured on a website that also supported a discussion forum. We analyzed 1,350 theses leading to the medical degree, defended in six consecutive academic years (2007-2013). Our aim was to estimate the publication rates and factors associated with publication of the final-year undergraduate research projects.

CONTEXT

The present research curriculum was developed at the University of Porto Faculty of Medicine as part of the Bologna process curriculum implemented in the 2007-2008 academic year. From May to June 2014 we looked for corresponding articles published over the period of September 2007 to April 2014. We searched PubMed, Scielo, Scopus, and IndexRMP databases to locate publications resulting from student theses.

OUTCOMES

Over 6 years, the diffusion of knowledge produced by medical students, who engaged in clinical practice concurrently with research projects, was fairly low (10.4%). Program modifications that increased student accountability and engagement allowed for an increased rate of publication from 1.0% to 23.9%. Factors associated with publication were research area, publication as a performance assessment criterion, and publication language.

LESSONS LEARNED

The results of this study suggest that it is helpful to provide research opportunities that allow aspiring future medical doctors to begin their research careers. Further research is needed to understand difficulties students and supervisors face in project development and to achieve greater balance in topic coverage among projects and, consequently, in departmental involvement in the program.

From idea to publication: Publication rates of theses in neurosurgery from Turkey

OBJECTIVES

Thesis at the end of residency is considered as the complementary component of postgraduate training. In this respect, thesis helps the residents learn how to ask structured questions, set up the most appropriate study design, conduct the study, retrieve study results and write conclusions with clinical implications. To the best of our knowledge, the publication rates of theses in the field of neurosurgery have not been reported before. Our aim was to find out publication rates of theses in neurosurgery specialty, in this descriptive study.

METHODS

The database of Higher Education Council of Turkey, which includes the theses of residents in only university hospitals, was screened between years 2004 and 2013. After retrieving the theses from the database; we used search engines to find out the theses published in any SCI/SCI-E-indexed journals. For this purpose, the title of the theses and the author names were used as keywords for searching. Data was presented in a descriptive form as absolute numbers and percentages.

RESULTS

We retrieved 164 theses written by former residents in neurosurgery using the database. Among 164 theses, 18% (national journals: 9; international journals: 21) were published in SCI/SCI-E indexed journals.

CONCLUSION

Publication rates of theses in neurosurgery are low as they are in the other specialties of medicine. Our study is a descriptive research, to give an idea about publication rates of theses in neurosurgery. Further studies are required to understand the underlying factors, which are responsible for the limited success in publication of theses in neurosurgery.

Medical Student Research: An Integrated Mixed-Methods Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Importance

Despite the rapidly declining number of physician-investigators, there is no consistent structure within medical education so far for involving medical students in research.

Objective

To conduct an integrated mixed-methods systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies about medical students' participation in research, and to evaluate the evidence in order to guide policy decision-making regarding this issue.

Evidence Review

We followed the PRISMA statement guidelines during the preparation of this review and meta-analysis. We searched various databases as well as the bibliographies of the included studies between March 2012 and September 2013. We identified all relevant quantitative and qualitative studies assessing the effect of medical student participation in research, without restrictions regarding study design or publication date. Prespecified outcome-specific quality criteria were used to judge the admission of each quantitative outcome into the meta-analysis. Initial screening of titles and abstracts resulted in the retrieval of 256 articles for full-text assessment. Eventually, 79 articles were included in our study, including eight qualitative studies. An integrated approach was used to combine quantitative and qualitative studies into a single synthesis. Once all included studies were identified, a data-driven thematic analysis was performed.

Findings and Conclusions

Medical student participation in research is associated with improved short- and long- term scientific productivity, more informed career choices and improved knowledge about-, interest in- and attitudes towards research. Financial worries, gender, having a higher degree (MSc or PhD) before matriculation and perceived competitiveness of the residency of choice are among the factors that affect the engagement of medical students in research and/or their scientific productivity. Intercalated BSc degrees, mandatory graduation theses and curricular research components may help in standardizing research education during medical school.

Analysis of an advisor-advisee relationship: an exploratory study of the area of exact and Earth sciences in Brazil

Scientific collaboration has been studied by researchers for decades. Several approaches have been adopted to address the question of how collaboration has evolved in terms of publication output, numbers of coauthors, and multidisciplinary trends. One particular type of collaboration that has received very little attention concerns advisor and advisee relationships. In this paper, we examine this relationship for the researchers who are involved in the area of Exact and Earth Sciences in Brazil and its eight subareas. These pairs are registered in the Lattes Platform that manages the individual curricula vitae of Brazilian researchers. The individual features of these academic researchers and their coauthoring relationships were investigated. We have found evidence that there exists positive correlation between time of advisor–advisee relationship with the advisee’s productivity. Additionally, there has been a gradual decline in advisor–advisee coauthoring over a number of years as measured by the Kulczynski index, which could be interpreted as decline of the dependence.

[Publication of pediatric medical dissertations in France]

INTRODUCTION

A medical dissertation is mandatory during medical studies in France. Often these dissertations are only considered an old-fashioned tradition but nonetheless require scientific research. According to recent publications, only 10% are secondarily published; however, there are no specific studies on pediatric medical dissertations.

METHOD

For all medical dissertations from students assigned to pediatrics in 2003, a subsequent publication was searched for on Pubmed and Google Scholar. When such a publication was found, data on the student's rank, the impact factor (IF), the language of publication, and the number of citations were retrieved.

RESULTS

For students assigned to pediatrics in 2003, 27.9% of the 172 medical theses were published, with a mean delay of 2.21 years. French was the language in 29%, and the mean IF was 2.3. There was no statistical association between student sex, age, university, size of the medical dissertation and publication.

DISCUSSION

More than 25% of the pediatric medical dissertations are published. According to available data, this is a good rate but nonetheless still low. We found no clear factor associated with publication.

CONCLUSION

Only a small fraction of pediatric medical dissertations are published.

Master's and doctoral theses in family medicine and their publication output, Suez Canal University, Egypt

BACKGROUND

The completion of a thesis is a significant requirement for both a Master's and a doctorate degree in general practice/family medicine (GP/FM). A postgraduate thesis is a well-planned, time-intensive activity carried out over several years. The quality of the theses can be judged by the proportion of published papers.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to describe Master's and doctoral theses in family medicine and their publications between 1982 and 2014.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

GP/FM degree theses were reviewed at the Faculty of Medicine and central Suez Canal libraries. Several characteristics were extracted from each thesis relating to the main researcher, supervisors, themes, and study methods according to predefined criteria. Publications from the theses were described.

RESULTS

Over 33 years, 208 theses were completed by 173 GP/FM researchers. The majority of the theses were for Master's degrees (84.1%). Regarding the study design, most of the degree theses were cross-sectional studies (76.9%). The adult population was targeted in 33.7% of research theses. Nonprobability sampling was used in 51%. Rural communities were the setting of research in 43.8%, and primary health center (PHC)-based studies in 59.1%. The "Patient" category exceeded the other categories (28.4%). Publication from theses started in the second decade of research production. Of the degree theses, 21.6% original articles were published. Only 13.3% of articles from theses were published in PubMed-indexed journals. The researcher was first author in 62.2% of published articles.

CONCLUSION

The production of GP/FM theses and their publications are going to increase. Continuous assessment and planning for GP/FM studies are recommended.

Factors influencing publication of scientific articles derived from masters theses in public health

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate theses of a Masters program in Public Health (MPH), in terms of the students' and theses' characteristics that influence publication of the thesis as a scientific article.

METHODS

Longitudinal study of students who successfully completed the MPH at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain) from 2006 to 2010. Participants completed an electronic survey and additional data were gathered from university files.

RESULTS

162 students participated in the study (83 % response rate). 60.5 % had already published an article derived from their thesis at the time of the study or were in process of publishing it. The likelihood of publishing in a peer-reviewed journal was greater among women (aRR = 1.41), among those who had a bachelor's degree in sciences other than health (aRR = 1.40), had completed the MPH on time (aRR = 2.10), had enrolled in a doctoral program after the MPH (aRR = 1.44) or had a masters thesis score of ≥7 (aRR = 1.61).

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of MPH students published their thesis in a peer-reviewed journal. The strongest predictors of successful publication were related to academic performance.

Measuring the international spreading of the knowledge produced by French dental master theses

We estimated the international spreading of the knowledge produced by French dental master theses by searching for corresponding publications, either as articles in Medline-indexed journals or abstracts of IADR meetings published in the Journal of Dental Research. From the 634 theses defended in 2010 in the 16 French odontology faculties, we found only one article, in a journal without impact factor, and six abstracts, over a 3-year period (2009-2011). This corresponds to a spreading rate of 0.6%. The participation rate of French odontology faculties at IADR meetings varies from 37.5% to 81.3% depending on the year. Although there are very few studies available on the matter, it appears that this international spreading rate is much lower than both the one found by Nieminen for odontology in Finland (8.2%) and typical spreading rates of medical theses (from 6% to 41% depending on the country). This great discrepancy could be explained by the lack of specific training provided to the students; the low awareness and little engagement of the students themselves, usually more concerned with their own private practice work; and the inadequate involvement of their supervisors. To tackle the lack of appropriate training, we suggest that a specific course on scientific writing should be offered to the students in the last year of their dental master studies.

Research practices and publication obstacles among interns at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2011-2012

BACKGROUND

Medical students can play a vital role in health research at any institute. Moreover, scientific publication by medical students is a strong indicator of students' knowledge, skills and attitudes towards scientific research. Very little information exists, however, on this matter in Saudi Arabia.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the publication practices of medical interns who graduated from King Abdulaziz University Faculty of Medicine and to investigate barriers to conducting and publishing research during their medical studies. A questionnaire was distributed to 394 interns and 249 (63.2%) responded.

RESULTS

About 31% of the responding interns started research during their undergraduate study years. About 12% discontinued their research, whereas only 7% submitted their research for publication. Only 3.2% of the interns had their research papers published and 3.2% had their research paper accepted for publication; 2% had research papers under revision. Interns had positive attitudes towards research, although only a few of them had submitted their papers for publication. Furthermore, interns expressed the need for training in research design, scientific paper writing and publication practice. They recommended devoting slots in medical school curriculum, in addition to other extracurricular training workshops, to teach and train students on such practices and also to provide more convenient opportunities for student participation in conferences.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Interns in King Abdulaziz University Faculty of Medicine have a positive attitude towards research; however, few students submit papers for publication. Lack of time and training in research methods were the main obstacles cited by the interns for conducting and publishing research. Interns welcome training in research, scientific writing and publication practice. These requirements will be issued to the main curriculum committee at the faculty of medicine and recommendations on possible actions will be discussed with the administration.

Student views of research training programmes in medical schools

CONTEXT

Research activity is not a mandatory component of medical education in many developing countries, including Brazil, although such experiences can have a positive impact on the quality of medical education. The interest and involvement of medical students in research and the barriers they face in accessing research training in developing countries have not been adequately addressed.

OBJECTIVES

We sought to assess the availability of scientific training programmes in Brazilian medical schools, the degree of involvement of medical students in these programmes, the main barriers to student involvement in research and possible reasons for the lack of scientific training programmes.

METHODS

This study examined 13 medical programmes conducted in six Brazilian states. A total of 1004 medical students were interviewed. We evaluated the availability of scientific training in the institutions attended by these students, the participation of the students in such activities and students' reasons for not joining such programmes based on student answers to our questionnaire.

RESULTS

Although only 7% of the medical students expressed no interest in research, only 60% of them were involved in research training. Students regarded a lack of institutional incentive as the most significant barrier to their participation in research activities. Other significant barriers included defective infrastructure and insufficient time available for professors to mentor undergraduate students. According to the feedback from the students, eight of the 13 schools investigated featured structured programmes for scientific training. However, a mean of only 47% of students participated in scientific training programmes on their campuses and 13% of students were compelled to pursue such activities off-campus.

CONCLUSIONS

Although scientific training during medical education in Brazil is still less frequent than expected, most of the students were interested in research activities. The barriers to undergraduate scientific training described in this paper may help the Brazilian government improve research training in medical schools. These issues might also be explored in other developing countries.

Publication practices of medical students at British medical schools: experience, attitudes and barriers to publish

INTRODUCTION

With research playing a vital role in improving clinical practice, it is important that medical students understand the role of research and submitting articles for publication. Therefore, the aim of this study was to ascertain the experience, motivation and attitude of publishing of medical students.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey of British medical students from seven medical schools in the United Kingdom.

RESULTS

Seventy-two of 515 had submitted an article for publication with a total of 124 articles being submitted. The main motivation to publish was for career progression. For the students that had not published, not having an opportunity to perform research was felt to be the main barrier. Only 49% of students had taken part in a research or audit project. Sixty-two percent of students stated they were not encouraged by the seniors to participate in research projects. From 515 medical students, only 88 students had submitted an article for a scientific meeting.

CONCLUSIONS

Students have a positive attitude towards publishing and they feel it is important. However, it is clear that students require and would welcome education in writing papers and abstracts, skills that they will need in their postgraduate careers.

Systematic characterizations of text similarity in full text biomedical publications

BACKGROUND

Computational methods have been used to find duplicate biomedical publications in MEDLINE. Full text articles are becoming increasingly available, yet the similarities among them have not been systematically studied. Here, we quantitatively investigated the full text similarity of biomedical publications in PubMed Central.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

72,011 full text articles from PubMed Central (PMC) were parsed to generate three different datasets: full texts, sections, and paragraphs. Text similarity comparisons were performed on these datasets using the text similarity algorithm eTBLAST. We measured the frequency of similar text pairs and compared it among different datasets. We found that high abstract similarity can be used to predict high full text similarity with a specificity of 20.1% (95% CI [17.3%, 23.1%]) and sensitivity of 99.999%. Abstract similarity and full text similarity have a moderate correlation (Pearson correlation coefficient: -0.423) when the similarity ratio is above 0.4. Among pairs of articles in PMC, method sections are found to be the most repetitive (frequency of similar pairs, methods: 0.029, introduction: 0.0076, results: 0.0043). In contrast, among a set of manually verified duplicate articles, results are the most repetitive sections (frequency of similar pairs, results: 0.94, methods: 0.89, introduction: 0.82). Repetition of introduction and methods sections is more likely to be committed by the same authors (odds of a highly similar pair having at least one shared author, introduction: 2.31, methods: 1.83, results: 1.03). There is also significantly more similarity in pairs of review articles than in pairs containing one review and one nonreview paper (frequency of similar pairs: 0.0167 and 0.0023, respectively).

CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE

While quantifying abstract similarity is an effective approach for finding duplicate citations, a comprehensive full text analysis is necessary to uncover all potential duplicate citations in the scientific literature and is helpful when establishing ethical guidelines for scientific publications.