Publication outcomes and research trends in bachelor’s and master’s theses in health sciences in Croatia: retrospective cohort study and survey of mentors

TL;DR

This study examines the publication outcomes of health sciences theses in Croatia and finds that few are based on original research or result in scientific publications.

Contribution

The study provides the first comprehensive analysis of thesis-based research and publication trends in Croatian health sciences education.

Findings

Only 21% of bachelor’s and 66% of master’s theses were based on original research.

Just 2.8% of all analyzed theses resulted in scientific journal publications.

83% of published articles were in Croatian journals.

Abstract

Conducting original research within bachelor’s and master’s theses (dissertations) and publishing thesis results in scientific journals has multiple advantages. This study aimed to analyze types and publication outcomes of bachelor’s and master’s theses defended by students of health sciences studies in Croatia.

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of bachelor’s and master’s theses of students of health studies in Croatia, defended by May 14, 2022, and a cross-sectional study of mentors who were surveyed for publication output.

We analyzed theses from repositories. Thesis mentors were surveyed via e-mail about the publication of the thesis content in scholarly journals. Additionally, three online sources (PubMed, Google Scholar, and Google) were used to find theses-based publications.

We surveyed mentors of bachelor’s and master’s theses of health sciences students in Croatia.

We analyzed 9861 theses, 7979 (81%) bachelor’s and 1882 (19%) master’s theses. Most (66%) of master’s theses were based on original research, compared to 21% of bachelor’s theses. Mentors of 3910 (40%) theses responded to the survey, indicating that 176/3910 (4.5%) of theses results were published in scientific journals. Through additional search of online sources, we found that from all analyzed theses, 276 (2.8%) articles were published in a scholarly journal. Among published articles, 229 (83%) were published in Croatian journals.

Most analyzed theses were not based on original research. Results of a few theses were published in a scientific journal. Institutions should encourage mentors and students to conduct original research within theses and to publish thesis results in a journal, to further develop health sciences.

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