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

Figures & data

Table

Practice points

With the increase in pressure to publish for doctors, medical students will need to be able to submit papers for publication. Though medical students have a positive attitude towards publishing, few medical students are submitting articles. More opportunities to perform research and teaching will aid medical students to increase their publishing potential.

Table 1.  Demographics of the medical students analysed

	Number of students
Medical school
Southampton	23
Warwick	29
UCL	38
Cardiff	125
Peninsula	38
Manchester	203
Edinburgh	59
Medical school year
1	81
2	37
3	91
4	95
5	117
Intercalating	94
Gender
Male	129
Female	386

Figure 1. (A) Reasons why students submitted articles and (B) reasons why students had not submitted articles.

Table 2.  Demographics of the students that had submitted articles for publication

	Number of students submitted an article
Medical school
Southampton	1
Warwick	4
UCL	8
Cardiff	6
Peninsula	2
Manchester	34
Edinburgh	17
Total	72
Medical school year
1	3
2	1
3	3
4	14
5	22
Intercalating	29
Total	72
Gender
Male	23
Female	49
Total	72

Table 3.  Type of articles submitted including the outcome of submissions

	First author	Second author	Third author	Fourth author	Other author
Original paper	27	8	5	2	2
Review	13	2	1
Case report	8	1	1
Letter	10	4			1
Abstract	21	3	2		1
Other	11		1
	Accepted without revision	Accepted with revision	Revision in progress	Rejected outright
Original paper	7	15	13	9
Review	3	7	5	1
Case report	1	1	6	2
Letter	6	6	1	2
Abstract	19	2	5	1
Other	4	4		4

Figure 2. (A) Research participation across different year groups and (B) research participation across the medicals schools.

Figure 3. Research participation correlated with whether students had submitted articles.

Table 4.  Summary of the statistical comparison made

Comparison	Probability (statistical test used)
Publication number by
Fifth and first years	p = 0.0018 (Fisher's exact test)
Fifth and second years	p = 0.0160 (Fisher's exact test)
Fifth and third years	p = 0.0005 (Fisher's exact test)
Publication number – male versus female	p = 0.8908 (Fisher's exact test)
Publication number at different medical schools	p = 0.0002 (Chi-square test)
Participation in research and audit
Fifth and first years	p < 0.001 (Fisher's exact test)
Fifth and second years	p < 0.001 (Fisher's exact test)
Fifth and third years	p < 0.001 (Fisher's exact test)
Fifth and fourth years	p < 0.001 (Fisher's exact test)
Participation in research and publication versus publication and no participation in research	p < 0.001 (Fisher's exact test)