The PREPIT project : Pregraduate Research Program Impact & Trajectories : a work in progress

Abstract

Introduction: The GAPIC – Gabinete de Apoio à Investigação Científica, Tecnológica e Inovação (Scientific Research, Technology and Innovation Support Office) of Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL) is celebrating its 30th anniversary. During the past 30 years, GAPIC has developed several initiatives to promote and disseminate scientific research, mostly among undergraduate students and young graduates. These initiatives have been fundamental in the career path of young students and have had an increase impact in the future of society and the quality of life of its citizens. To assess the impact of GAPIC Programs in terms of gains in knowledge, skills and attitudes; barriers and opportunities; scientific production and professional trajectories of undergraduate students who participated in the GAPIC scientific research projects from 1997/98 to 2014/2015, the PREPIT Project is being developed with the collaboration of the FMUL´s library team. Two primary objectives were defined: i) Evaluate scientific productivity indicators of participants in GAPIC undergraduate programs in short and long term (study A); ii) Characterize the perspectives of participants in GAPIC undergraduate programs on the importance and impact of these (study B). Secondary objectives are: i) Identify predictors of scientific productivity indicators of these participants in short and long term (study A); ii) Characterize professional and academic trajectories among participants and identify predictors of these trajectories (study B). As a work in progress, only preliminary results are presented.

Methods: Study Design1: two-component observational study: cohort, retrospective, bibliometric (study A) and cross-sectional, by electronic survey (study B). Population: all undergraduate students accepted to the GAPIC “Education for Science” program (or equivalent) from 1997/98 to 2014/2015. Data Collection and Instruments: i) data collection for the bibliometric cohort study (study A): academic year/GAPIC program; number of participations; demographic data; project description; ORCID iD. The definition of scientific profiles will be done through WoS and Scopus bibliometric data. Data will be exported to Excel and analyzed through SPSS. For data collection by electronic survey (study B) SurveyMonkey platform will be used. The survey will include closed, single and multiple choice questions, with Likert2 items. A modified Dillmman methodology3 with 3 reminders will be used and the survey will be open for 4 weeks. Study B protocol will be submitted to the Ethics Committee.

Results and discussion: Based on author name and ORCID iD search, by now we have collected preliminary bibliometric data from 553 students involved in 387 GAPIC projects. As this is a work in progress more results will be available soon after the distribution and analysis of the electronic survey results. At the end of the project we aim to achieve all the proposed objectives, to gain an in-depth understanding of the impact and relevance of integrating research in all stages of medical education and positively contribute to support future research training interventions.