Medical students’ contribution to research; the scientific output of medical theses held in Moroccan medical schools during the last decade (2011-2021)

Figures & data

Table 1. General characteristics of medical theses in the four explored faculties of medicine and pharmacy (2011–2021).

Items	Faculty of medicine & pharmacy of Rabat N (%)	Faculty of medicine & pharmacy of Fez N (%)	Faculty of medicine & pharmacy of Marrakech N (%)	Faculty of medicine & pharmacy of Oujda N (%)	Total N (%)
Language
French	4002 (99.3)	2465 (98.9)	2078 (99.0)	1179 (99.0)	9724 (99.1)
English	20 (.5)	18 (.8)	18 (.9)	10 (.9)	66 (0.7)
Arabic	6 (.2)	8 (.3)	2 (.1)	1 (.1)	17 (0.2)
Methodology
Retrospective case series	2189 (54.3)	1589 (63.8)	1609 (76.7)	668 (56.1)	6055 (61.7)
Case reports	497 (12.3)	355 (14.2)	46 (2.2)	227 (19.1)	1125 (11.5)
Prospective cohort study	274 (6.9)	188 (7.6)	156 (7.4)	18 (1.5)	636 (6.5)
Cross-sectional study	96 (2.4)	203 (8.1)	228 (1.9)	54 (4.5)	581 (6.0)
Reviews	960 (23.8)	52 (2.1)	6 (.3)	209 (17.6)	1227 (12.5)
Resource material creation	12 (.3)	104 (4.2)	53 (2.5)	14 (1.2)	183 (1.8)
Specialty domains
Surgical specialties	1261 (31.3)	1041 (41.8)	914 (43.6)	594 (49.9)	3810 (38.9)
Medical specialties	612 (15.3)	562 (22.7)	446 (21.3)	205 (17.2)	1825 (18.6)
Mother and child health	1182 (29.3)	440 (17.7)	281 (13.4)	250 (21.1)	2153 (22.0)
Fundamental sciences	636 (15.8)	196 (7.8)	237 (11.3)	59 (4.9)	1128 (11.5)
Emergency-Intensive care	296 (7.3)	198 (7.9)	155 (7.4)	69 (5.7)	718 (7.3)
Medical education	20 (.5)	44 (1.7)	55 (2.5)	15 (1.2)	134 (1.3)
Miscellaneous	21 (.5)	10 (.4)	10 (.5)	-	41 (0.4)
Total	4028 (100)	2491 (100)	2098 (100)	1190 (100)	9807(100)

Figure 1. Evolution of the publication rate through the years in the four medical faculties.

Figure 2. Comparison of published theses among the four medical faculties regarding the SJR score means.

FMPR: Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat/FMPM: Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Marrakech/FMPF: Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fez/FMPO: Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Oujda.

Table 2. General characteristics of medical theses in the four explored faculties of medicine and pharmacy (2011–2021).

Items	Faculty of medicine & pharmacy of Rabat N (%)	Faculty of medicine & pharmacy of Fez N (%)	Faculty of medicine & pharmacy of Marrakech N (%)	Faculty of medicine & pharmacy of Oujda N (%)	Total
Published papers	24 (.6)	25 (1.0)	30 (1.4)	4 (.3)	83 (0.8)
Student’s gender
Men	8 (33.3)	13 (52.0)	14 (46.7)	2 (5.0)	37 (44.6)
Women	16 (66.7)	12 (48.0)	16 (53.3)	2 (5.0)	46 (55.4)
Author rank of the student
First author	14 (58.4)	13 (52.0)	16 (53.3)	2 (5.0)	45 (54.2)
Second author	7 (29.1)	7 (28.0)	3 (1.0)	2 (5.0)	19 (22.9)
Third author or further	3 (12.5)	5 (2.0)	11 (36.7)	0 (.90)	19 (22.9)
Language of publication
French	5 (2.8)	17 (68.0)	19 (63.3)	0 (.0)	41 (49.4)
English	19 (79.2)	8 (32.0)	11 (36.7)	4 (1.0)	42 (50.6)
Journal SJR (Means ± SD)	1.15 ± 1.60	45 ± .56	33 ± .24	2.09 ± 3.32	0.69 ± 1.21
Delay of publication in years (Means ± SD)	1.08 ± 1.8	2.28 ± 1.21	2.10 ± 1.64	51 ± 1.0	1.49 ± 1.34
Number of Citations	105	38	60	13	216

SJR: Scientific Journal Ranking; SD: Standard Deviation