Characteristics and publication patterns of theses from a Peruvian medical school

Transcription

1 Characteristics an publication patterns of theses from a Peruvian meical school Isaias Arriola-Quiroz*, Walter H. Curioso, MD, MPH, Maria Cruz-Encarnacion* & Oscar Gayoso, MD *Scientific Society of Meical Stuents ( SOCEMCH ), School of Meicine, Universia Peruana Cayetano Hereia, Lima 31, Peru, School of Meicine, Universia Peruana Cayetano Hereia, Lima 31, Peru an Department of Meical Eucation an Biomeical Informatics, School of Meicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA Abstract Backgroun: Many meical schools require a stuent thesis before grauation. Publishing results in a peer-reviewe journal coul be an inicator of scientific value an acceptability by the scientific community. The publication pattern of theses publishe by meical stuents in Peru is unknown. The aim of this stuy was to assess the characteristics an publication pattern of theses in biomeical-inexe journals conucte by meical stuents in a university with the highest research output in Peru. Methos: Data from registere theses between 2000 an 2003 were obtaine from the university library. Publication of theses in biomeical journals was assesse in 2008 by a search strategy using PubMe, Google Scholar, LILACS, LIPECS an SciELO. Results: Four hunre an eighty-two meical theses were registere between 2000 an 2003; 85 (17.6%) were publishe in biomeical-inexe journals. Of the publishe theses, 28 (5.8%) were publishe in MEDLINE-inexe journals, 55 (11.4%) in SciELO-inexe journals, 61 (12.6%) in LILACS-inexe journals an 68 (14.1%) in LIPECS-inexe journals. Most of the publishe theses (80%) were in Spanish an publishe in Peruvian journals; an 17 theses (20%) were publishe in foreign journals (all of them inexe in MEDLINE). In aition, 37 (43.5%) belong primarily to internal meicine, an 24 (28.2%) belong primarily to infectious iseases. Meical stuents were first authors in 71 (83.5%) of the articles. Conclusion: In this stuy, most of the publishe theses were in Spanish, publishe in local journals an inexe in LIPECS. The percentage of publishe theses in biomeical journals at this university is comparable with others coming from evelope countries. Keywors: bibliographic, atabases, eucation, meical, meline, stuents DOI: /j x Key Messages Implications for Practice More courses an workshops on scientific publishing shoul be organise perioically that inclue ethical an scientific misconuct issues in publication. More awareness of the available journals to publish both in Spanish an English are neee. More inexe journals in Spanish are neee to isseminate finings from Latin America. Stuents shoul be supporte if they want to publish in non-spanish-inexe journals. Implications for Policy Courses on scientific publishing shoul be integrate into the meical curricula. Electronic repositories coul be implemente to achieve full access to meical theses. Universities shoul encourage meical stuents to publish their meical theses not only in local journals but also in others with a high impact factor. Corresponence: Walter H. Curioso, School of Meicine, Universia Peruana Cayetano Hereia, Honorio Delgao 430, Lima 31, Peru. [email protected] Journal compilation ª 2010 Health Libraries Group. Health Information an Libraries Journal, 27, pp

2 Theses from a Peruvian Meical School, Isaias Arriola-Quiroz et al. 149 Backgroun A university is an institution of higher eucation an research. A thesis is a ocument that presents the author s research base on the finings collecte uring the years of training at a university. A thesis is require for a professional qualification as a octor in many meical schools aroun the worl, 1 incluing Peru. Every year stuents invest money, time an human resources to prepare an conuct their theses. The publication of a thesis in a peer-reviewe journal coul be an inicator of its scientific value an acceptability in the international scientific community. 2 Nevertheless, few universities have assesse the impact of theses on future publications. Salmi et al. performe a stratifie sampling of theses from 36 meical schools in French universities between January 1993 an December The proportion of publishe theses in the MEDLINE atabase was 17% (51) out of Nieminen et al. stuie 256 consecutives theses presente between 2001 an 2003 at Oulu University in Finlan. Sixty-one (23.8%) were publishe in inexe journals from several atabases such as MEDLINE an Scopus. 4 Pitche et al. stuie 240 theses on meicine at the University of Lome in Togo from 1993 to Fifty-four theses (22.5%) were publishe in inexe journals from several atabases such as MEDLINE an Pascal. 5 It is well recognise that publication of a scientific article is the final an essential step of the scientific process. 6 The most use bibliometric inicator to measure the scientific activity of an institution is the amount of publications, the amount of citations an the impact factor of the journal where the publication is publishe. 7 There are many venues where meical stuents can publish their theses or research projects. In Peru, there are 17 meical-relate journals inexe in ifferent atabases 8 (compare with approximately 760 meical-relate journals in Latin America an the Caribbean). 9 Most of the research that has been one in Peru is publishe mainly in four resources: MEDLINE (the premier atabase of health care research an practice), LILACS (Latin American an Caribbean Health Science Literature Database), LIPECS (Peruvian Health Science Literature Database) an SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online). 10 The impact of theses publishe by meical stuents in Peru is unknown. The aim of this stuy was to assess the characteristics an publication pattern of theses in biomeical-inexe journals conucte by meical stuents at Universia Peruana Cayetano Hereia (UPCH), a premier meical school in Latin America with the highest scientific research prouction in Peru. 11 Methos This is a retrospective cohort stuy. Theses were obtaine from the authorise university s irection for scientific information management (Dirección Universitaria e Gestión e la Información Científica or DUGIC) at UPCH. We inclue all the registere theses from for our stuy. All the registere theses ha author s name, title, ate of publication, summary an key wors. We ha no exclusion criteria. The completion of a thesis was a significant requirement for a meical egree at UPCH as it is in other countries. 12 Since 2004, meical stuents are no longer require to present a thesis. Rather, stuents must conuct a research project that may have up to three authors, though this is no longer calle a thesis. Search strategy During June 2008, searches using PubMe ( an Google Scholar ( google.com) were conucte using key wors with the names of the author an the avisor s thesis (Table 1). To fin articles not inexe in PubMe, we searche on LILACS ( base=lilacs&lang=e&form=f), LIPECS ( iah.xic&lang=e&base=lipecs) an SciELO using a search criteria similar to that evelope by Curioso et al. 13 We limite our searching to those atabases because those inexe most of the research carrie out in Peru. 10 Searching was mae by three authors traine in searching biomeical bibliographical atabases (IAQ, WHC an MJCE), who also selecte Journal compilation ª 2010 Health Libraries Group. Health Information an Libraries Journal, 27, pp

3 150 Theses from a Peruvian Meical School, Isaias Arriola-Quiroz et al. Table 1 Search strategy using PubMe, Google Scholar, LILACS an LIPECS Database or Search engine PubMe Google Scholar LILACS LIPECS suspecte ual publication in the most sensitive moe. Dual publication of the information was grae as suggeste by the International Committee of Meical Journal Eitors 14 an the eitors of cariothoracic journals. 15 The resulting search items were compare with the title of each thesis. If there was a complete or partial match, it was further corroborate by comparing the abstracts of the theses an the articles. A thesis was consiere publishe in a biomeical journal if the authors, title an abstract matche between the thesis an the article foun. We then tracke the name of the journal where the matching article was publishe. The primary research area of a particular thesis was base on its liste key wors. If no key wors were registere, the primary research area was efine by consensus between two of the authors (I.A-Q. an W.H.C.). For comparison purposes, we consier SciELO as a atabase, though it is an electronic library. 13 Statistical analysis Descriptive statistics were use to summarise the ata which were entere into computer files using the social science statistical software (SPSS version 13). Data are presente as percentages. Results Search criteria last name of author [au] last name of avisor [au] author: last name of author author: last name of avisor last name of author [Autor] an last name of avisor [Autor] last name of author [Autor] an last name of avisor [Autor] Four hunre an eight-two meical theses were registere between 2000 an 2003 an 85 (17.6%) were publishe in biomeical-inexe journals. Most of the theses (27 or 31.7%) were registere in In general, the frequency of publishe theses in each atabase uring is as follows: 28 theses (5.8%) were publishe in MEDLINEinexe journals, 55 (11.4%) in SciELO-inexe journals, 61 (12.6%) in LILACS-inexe journals an 68 (14.1%) in LIPECS-inexe journals. In aition, 37 (43.5%) belong primarily to internal meicine an 24 (28.2%) belong primarily to infectious iseases (Table 2). Sixty-eight theses (80%) were publishe in Peruvian journals an 17 theses (20%) were publishe in foreign journals (all of them inexe in MEDLINE). Most articles coming from meical theses were publishe in Revista Meica Hereiana (inexe in SciELO, LILACS an LIPECS) an Revista e Gastroenterologia el Peru (inexe in MEDLINE, SciELO, LILACS an LI- PECS). In aition, meical stuents were first authors in 71 (83.5%) of the articles. Eighty-five theses prouce 87 articles (Table 3), two of which were uplicates, meaning that the same ata from one thesis were publishe twice. In the first case, the same ata were publishe initially in Parasitologia Latinoamericana (not inexe in MEDLINE) an later in the Revista e Gastroenterologia el Peru (a MEDLINEinexe journal). In the secon case, the same ata were publishe initially in Folia Dermatologica Peruana (a journal in Spanish) an later in the Revista e Meicina Tropical e Sao Paulo, a journal in English an inexe in MEDLINE. Discussion To our knowlege, this is the first stuy that reports the publication pattern of meical theses at a Peruvian university in inexe journals. Most theses were publishe in LIPECS, the Peruvian atabase for health sciences journals. This might be explaine by the fact that LIPECS is a atabase that stores journals, theses an technical reports in Spanish, the main language spoken in Peru. This stuy also reveals a omestic pattern of theses publication. In fact, almost one-thir of the theses were publishe at the university s meical journal (Revista Meica Hereiana). This may be ue to Journal compilation ª 2010 Health Libraries Group. Health Information an Libraries Journal, 27, pp

4 Theses from a Peruvian Meical School, Isaias Arriola-Quiroz et al. 151 Table 2 Publication patterns of unergrauate meical theses at Universia Peruana Cayetano Hereia Publishe Articles in Spanish MEDLINE SciELO LILACS LIPECS Primary research area* Meicine Infectious iseases Paeiatrics Psychiatry Surgery Gynaecology Total (90.5%) 28 (32.9%) 55 (64.7%) 61 (71.7%) 68 (80.0%) *Infectious iseases: meical topics primarily relate to infectious iseases. Meicine: meical topics not primarily relate to infectious iseases, surgery, peiatrics or gynecology an obstetrics. Inclues topics such as eucation an history. Surgery: topics primarily relate to surgery. Paeiatrics: topics primarily relate to paeiatrics. Gynaecology an obstetrics: topics primarily relate to gynaecology an obstetrics. Psychiatry: topics primarily relate to psychiatry. Table 3 Journals where meical stuents publishe their theses* First author (71) Secon author (16) Total (87) Peruvian journals (12) Revista Meica Hereiana Revista e Gastroenterologia el Peru Revista e la Sociea Peruana e Meicina Interna Folia Dermatologica Peruana Enfermeaes el Torax Diagnostico (Peru) Revista Peruana e Meicina Experimental y Salu Publica Revista Peruana e Reumatologia Acta Cancerológica Revista Estomatológica Hereiana Revista Peruana e Oftalmología Ginecologia y Obstetricia Foreign journals (14) Revista e Neuro-psiquiatría Infection Control an Hospital Epiemiology Actas Españolas e Psiquiatria International Conference on Ais Cuaernos e Saue Publica Revista Chilena e Peiatria Revista e Meicina Tropical e Sao Paulo Sexually Transmitte Diseases The American Journal of Tropical Meicine an Hygiene Parasitología Latinoamericana Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Meicine an Hygiene Revista Española e Salu Publica Emerging Infectious Disease International Congress Series *Two cases of uplication were foun. Journal compilation ª 2010 Health Libraries Group. Health Information an Libraries Journal, 27, pp

5 152 Theses from a Peruvian Meical School, Isaias Arriola-Quiroz et al. the journal being well known at the university an possibly because the meical stuents are not aware of the iverse journal venue for publishing articles. The secon most favorite journal is Revista e Gastroenterología el Peru, one of the most important Peruvian journals, an the only MED- LINE-inexe journal in Peru. 10 Almost 18% of the theses were publishe in inexe journals, which is comparable to some universities from evelope countries such as Finlan an France. 3,4 Only 5.8% of all publishe theses, however, were publishe in MEDLINEinexe journals, which is fairly low compare to a stuy from France that foun that 17% of meical theses were publishe in MEDLINE-inexe journals. 3 The low number of publications in MEDLINE foun in this stuy might reflect the situation an challenges of other researchers in Latin America. 16 This ifference coul be explaine by the many challenges that unergrauate stuents face when it comes to publishing. 17 A barrier for stuents may be writing in English, which is consiere a time-consuming an ifficult enterprise for some. 18 Another factor is the lack of incentives for publishing. In Peru, stuents an faculty o not usually receive funs for publishing, 19 an many times theses at UPCH are prouce from existing projects, i.e. grants fune by national or international institutions to avisors, although many others are self-fune out-of-pocket by the stuents themselves. 18 Gutierrez an Mayta foun that unergrauate Peruvian meical stuents main perceive limitations for scientific publishing were: a lack of value of the work one, an absence of a culture of publication, a lack of knowlege regaring the venues for publication, the quality of research one, a lack of support from mentors, a lack of training in meical publishing an a lack of incentives to publish. 2 Many times, the first goo research work one by a meical stuent is his or her thesis. 2 In this stuy, most publishe theses were relate to internal meicine an to infectious iseases. This is not surprising as UPCH is globally characterise by high-quality tropical an infectious iseases research an training programmes. 20,21 We also foun two cases of uplication. Some authors consier some situations of uplicate publication justifie (e.g. publication in ifferent languages an with clear cross references). 22,23 This might be the case foun in the secon instance (the article was initially publishe in a journal in Spanish an later the article was publishe in English), but the authors faile to eclare the cross reference. It is possible that in the first case the authors wante to increase visibility (the article was initially publishe in a SciELO-inexe journal an later it was publishe in a MEDLINEinexe journal). In both cases, the pattern of uplication was an ientical sample an outcomes. 24 In any case, authors shoul carefully rea the proscription against uplicate publication that appears in the Instruction to Authors before submitting to a particular journal, an in other communications. Sometimes publishing one article in two or more languages coul be acceptable but cross references shoul be clearly state. As Bailey mentione: The act of submission infers that the manuscript shoul be publishe because the information is not available elsewhere an because it is significant. 22 Many institutions are storing theses an issertations in university repositories, which might be consiere publishe in one sense. 25 We might have a uplicate publication problem if journals take a very strict approach to uplicate publication. This issue nees to be further explore. In Chile, Reyes et al. ocumente some cases of uplication in Revista Meica e Chile from well-recognise researchers. 26 In Peru, Salinas an Mayta-Tristan reporte a case of uplication in a Peruvian journal; 27 an Rojas-Revoreo et al. have etecte a case of plagiarism. 28 Significant efforts shoul be mae to eucate authors, particularly young acaemicians, to avoi the practice of uplicate publication. 22,27 One limitation of the stuy is that we stuie only the theses at one private university in Peru. Therefore, our results can not be generalise to all meical schools in Peru. In aition, we are unable to etermine if there is at least one article currently uner peer-reviewe process or in press. Another limitation is that we focuse our work on publishe articles an we i not consier scientific communication in congresses or meical conferences, in part, because it is very ifficult to access those types of publications. Although most of the research carrie out in Peru is not inexe in Journal compilation ª 2010 Health Libraries Group. Health Information an Libraries Journal, 27, pp

6 Theses from a Peruvian Meical School, Isaias Arriola-Quiroz et al. 153 EMBASE, 10 this coul be a limitation as we i not inclue that atabase in our search strategy, an we coul have misse a reference of a publishe thesis. We i not evaluate the amount of manuscripts submitte which might be a more accurate measure of the research activity than accepte publications. 29 In general, there is unerrepresentation of eveloping countries in the research literature, especially in high-impact general meical journals. 30 Far more manuscripts submitte from low an mile-income countries are rejecte when compare with high-income countries. 29 Some of the challenges escribe inclue ifferent socio-cultural, an economic contexts, low technical preparation, low quality of articles an even the presence of a eveloping country bias which influences the likelihoo of publication. 31 A topic for future research is to etermine the interests of stuents in conucting a thesis (e.g. purely acaemic or scientific) an the quality of the publishe articles coming from theses. Unergrauate scientific prouction is increasing in Peru. 32 Most of this, however, is available as abstracts or proceeings from presentations at congresses an conferences. 33 There are many challenges an limitations for publication in unergrauate schools in Peru. 2,34 One strategy to tackle this issue coul be organising courses an workshops on scientific publishing perioically that inclue ethical issues in publication. Ieally, those courses shoul be integrate into the meical curricula. This strategy has been shown to be effective elsewhere. 1 We hope that our results help researchers, other health professionals an stuents to better promote research an improve the quality of publications, not only in Peru but also in other eveloping countries. Finally, more stuies shoul be performe to unerstan the lack of publication in unergrauates. Conclusion In this stuy, most of the publishe theses were in Spanish, publishe in local journals an inexe in LIPECS. The percentage of publishe theses in biomeical journals at this university is comparable with those from evelope countries (e.g. Finlan an France). Competing interests The author(s) eclare that they have no competing interests. Author contribution W.H.C. participate in the esign of the stuy, collecte the ata, an le the analysis, interpretation an manuscript rafting. I.A.Q. conceive the stuy, collecte the ata, participate in the esign of the stuy, ata analysis an helpe raft the manuscript. M.C.E. collecte the ata, participate in the ata analysis an helpe raft the manuscript. O.G. reviewe the manuscript an mae significant comments. All authors rea an approve the final manuscript. Acknowlegements The authors express their gratitue to Dr Oscar Pamo an Dr Juan Miyahira for valuable suggestions on the manuscript. The authors also acknowlege D. Alex Quistberg for eitorial assistance. W.H.C. is supporte by the Fogarty International Center of NIH Grant No. R01TW References 1 Frishman, W. H. Stuent research projects an theses: shoul they be a requirement for meical school grauation? Heart Disease 2001, 3, Gutierrez, C. & Mayta, P. Publicación ese el pre-grao en Latinoamérica: importancia, limitaciones y alternativas e solución. CIMEL 2003, 8, Salmi, L. R., Gana, S. & Mouillet, E. Publication pattern of meical theses, France, Meical Eucation 2001, 35, Nieminen, P., Sipila, K., Takkinen, H. M., Renko, M. & Risteli, L. Meical theses as part of the scientific training in basic meical an ental eucation: experiences from Finlan. BMC Meical Eucation 2007, 7, Pitche, P. T., Onipoh, D. K. & Tchangai-Walla, K. L. Scientific issemination of meical issertations at the University of Lome (Togo). Sante 2007, 17, Cruz, M. La importancia e publicar en revistas bioméicas. Rev Asoc Mex Me Crit y Ter Int 2001, 15, Borons, M. & Zulueta, M. A. [Evaluation of the scientific activity through bibliometric inices]. Revista Espanola e Cariologia 1999, 52, Huamani, C. & Pacheco-Romero, J. Visibilia y Prouccion e las Revistas Biomeicas Peruanas. Revista e Gastroenterologia el Peru 2009, 29, Journal compilation ª 2010 Health Libraries Group. Health Information an Libraries Journal, 27, pp

7 154 Theses from a Peruvian Meical School, Isaias Arriola-Quiroz et al. 9 Palombo, S. Curso Metoologia LILACS [LILACS Course]. Accessible at: capacitacionbvs/presentacion/01-lilacs.pf [accesse on 31 July 2009] 10 Pamo, O. Estao actual e las publicaciones perióicas científicas méicas el Perú. Rev Me Here 2005, 16, Cuevas, R., Mestanza, M. & Alcale, A. La proucción científica en el Perú. Estuio e los inicaores bibliométricos en el Parte I. Lima, Peru. Re Munial e Científicos Peruanos Accessible at: ws/achc_chota/30_enero_2005/inicaores_2004_peru.pf [accesse on 10 January 2010]. 12 Ogunyemi, D., Bazargan, M., Norris, K., Jones-Quaioo, S., Wolf, K., Eelstein, R., Baker, R. S. & Calmes, D. The evelopment of a manatory meical thesis in an urban meical school. Teaching an Learning in Meicine 2005, 17, Curioso, W. H., Arriola-Quiroz, I. & Cruz-Encarnacion, M. [A simple strategy to improve searching of inexe articles in SciELO]. Revista Meica e Chile 2008, 136, ICMJE. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitte to Biomeical Journals Accessible at: [accesse on 20 May 2009]. 15 Cho, B. K., Rosenfelt, F., Turina, M. I., Karp, R. B., Ferguson, T. B., Bonar, E. & Walhausen, J. A. Joint statement on reunant (uplicate) publication by the eitors of the unersigne cariothoracic journals. Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2000, 69, Rosselli, D. Latin American biomeical publications: the case of Colombia in Meline. Meical Eucation 1998, 32, Kabra, S. K. & Verma, I. C. Thesis uring MD: must or bust? Inian Journal of Peiatrics 2007, 74, Villafuerte-Galvez, J., Curioso, W. H. & Mirana, J. J. The role of meical stuents in the fight to control neglecte tropical iseases: a view from Peru. PLoS Neglecte Tropical Diseases 2008, 2, e Garcia, P. J. & Curioso, W. H. Strategies for aspiring biomeical researchers in resource-limite environments. PLoS Neglecte Tropical Diseases 2008, 2, e Guerra, H. Development of the Instituto e Meicina Tropical Alexaner von Humbolt of the Universia Peruana Cayetano Hereia. Plus some reflections on tropical meicine research in eveloping countries in the 21st century. Memorias o Instituto Oswalo Cruz 2000, 95(Suppl. 1), Freeman, D. O., Gotuzzo, E., Seas, C., Legua, P., Plier, D. A., Vermun, S. H. & Casebeer, L. L. Eucational programs to enhance meical expertise in tropical iseases: the Gorgas Course experience American Journal of Tropical Meicine an Hygiene 2002, 66, Bailey, B. J. Duplicate publication in the fiel of otolaryngology-hea an neck surgery. Otolaryngology - Hea an Neck Surgery 2002, 126, Committee on Publication Ethics. The COPE Report Accessible at: [accesse on 10 January 2010]. 24 von Elm, E., Poglia, G., Waler, B. & Tramer, M. R. Different patterns of uplicate publication: an analysis of articles use in systematic reviews. JAMA 2004, 291, Davis PM&MJL, C. Institutional Repositories: Evaluating the Reasons for Non-Use of Cornell University s Installation of Dspace. D-Lib Magazine. Accessible at: [accesse on 31 July 2009]. 26 Reyes, H., Palma, J. & Anresen, M. [Ethics in articles publishe in meical journals]. Revista Meica e Chile 2007, 135, Salinas, J. L. & Mayta-Tristan, P. [Duplicate publication: a Peruvian case]. Revista e Gastroenterologia el Peru 2008, 28, ; author reply Rojas-Revoreo, V., Huamani, C. & Mayta-Tristan, P. [Plagiarism in unergrauate publications: experiences an recommenations]. Revista Meica e Chile 2007, 135, Singh, D. Publication bias a reason for the ecrease research output in eveloping countries. South African Psychiatry Review 2006, 9, Sumathipala, A., Siribaana, S. & Patel, V. Unerrepresentation of eveloping countries in the research literature: ethical issues arising from a survey of five leaing meical journals. BMC Meical Ethics 2004, 5, E5. 31 Shakiba, B., Salmasian, H., Yousefi-Nooraie, R. & Rohanizaegan, M. Factors influencing eitors ecision on acceptance or rejection of manuscripts: the authors perspective. Archives of Iranian Meicine 2008, 11, Huamani, C., Chavez-Solis, P., Dominguez-Haro, W. & Solano-Alana, M. I.. Proucción científica estuiantil: análisis y expectativas. Revista Peruana e Meicina Experimental y Salu Publica 2007, 24, Galan, E., Manrique, N., Villavicencio, E., Yllatopa, E., Peralta, M. & De La Cruz, W. Prouccion cientifica e los investigaores el pregrao e meicina humana el Peru, CIMEL 2005, 10, Rojas-Revoreo, V. Las publicaciones en revistas inexaas, unico inicaor e la proucción e las Socieaes Científicas Estuiantiles. CIMEL 2007, 12, 5 6. Receive 22 September 2009; accepte 16 October 2009 Journal compilation ª 2010 Health Libraries Group. Health Information an Libraries Journal, 27, pp