Publication of preventive and community medicine theses: Faculty of medicine of Tunis from 2012 to 2017

Abstract

Aim: to describe the publication rates of the theses in preventive and community medicine supported at the medical university of Tunis from 2012 to 2017 and to determine factors affecting their publication in scientific journals.

Methods: descriptive and retrospective study on defended theses in preventive and community medicine listed in the library of the medical university of Tunis. We considered as published thesis, works published as an article or as a published abstract. A multivariate analysis was performed to study the determinants of thesis publication.

Results: The study concerned 84 preventive and community medicine theses. Thirty theses were published (35.7%), including 19 theses (63.3%) as research papers, in scientific journals. Almost two-thirds (67.8%) of publications were in French. The publications were mainly submitted (22/56) in two journals: « Revue d'Épidémiologie et de Santé Publique » and « La Tunisie Médicale ». The student's name was mentioned in 63.4% of published works. The determinants of publication in multivariate analysis were the the status of the thesard (p=0.001), the degree of the supervisor (p=0.038), and the formulation of recommendations (p=0.005).

Conclusion: The proportion of publications from preventive and community medicine theses was relatively modest. This is why we must encourage more doctoral students and supervisors to participate in educational seminars on article writing, in order to enrich scientific production by improving the writing quality of their theses.