Title |
Low immediate scientific yield of the PhD among medical doctors
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Published in |
BMC Medical Education, July 2016
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DOI | 10.1186/s12909-016-0713-2 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Emil L. Fosbøl, Philip L. Fosbøl, Sofie Rerup, Lauge Østergaard, Mohammed H. Ahmed, Jawad Butt, Julie Davidsen, Nirusiya Shanmuganathan, Simon Juul, Christian Lewinter |
Abstract |
We studied the scientific yield of the medical PhD program at all Danish Universities. We undertook a retrospective observational study. Three PhD schools in Denmark were included in order to evaluate the postdoctoral research production over more than 18 years through individual publications accessed by PubMed. A total of 2686 PhD-graduates (1995-2013) with a medical background were included according to registries from all PhD schools in Denmark. They had a median age of 35 years (interquartile range (IQR), 32-38) and 53 % were women at the time of graduation. Scientific activity over time was assessed independently of author-rank and inactivity was measured relative to the date of graduation. Factors associated with inactivity were identified using multivariable logistic regression. 88.6 % of the PhD theses were conducted in internal medicine vs. 11.4 % in surgery. During follow-up (median 6.9 years, IQR 3.0-11.7), PubMed data searches identified that 87 (3.4 %) of the PhD graduates had no publication after they graduated from the PhD program, 40 % had 5 or less, and 90 % had 30 or less. The median number of publications per year after PhD graduation was 1.12 (IQR 0.61-1.99) papers per year. About 2/3 of the graduates became inactive after 1 year and approximately 21 % of the graduates remained active during the whole follow-up. Female gender was associated with inactivity: adjusted odds ratio 1.59 (95 % confidence interval 1.24-2.05). The scientific production of Danish medic PhD-graduates was mainly produced around the time of PhD-graduation. After obtaining the PhD-degree the scientific production declines suggesting that scientific advance fails and resources are not harnessed. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Ireland | 1 | 13% |
United Kingdom | 1 | 13% |
Hong Kong | 1 | 13% |
Kenya | 1 | 13% |
Pakistan | 1 | 13% |
Unknown | 3 | 38% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 4 | 50% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 25% |
Scientists | 2 | 25% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 37 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Bachelor | 7 | 19% |
Student > Master | 5 | 14% |
Researcher | 5 | 14% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 3 | 8% |
Unspecified | 2 | 5% |
Other | 3 | 8% |
Unknown | 12 | 32% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Medicine and Dentistry | 9 | 24% |
Social Sciences | 6 | 16% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 2 | 5% |
Unspecified | 2 | 5% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 2 | 5% |
Other | 5 | 14% |
Unknown | 11 | 30% |