[Medical thesis publication of medical oncology residents in France: Trends and associated factors]

Abstract

Introduction: The French medical residency system requires the completion and subsequent defense of a thesis. Only a minority of this work is eventually published in an peer-reviewed journal. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the publication rate and associated patterns among residents appointed to the medical oncology specialty in France in order to identify ways of improving their educational framework and to promote the dissemination of their results. The secondary objective was to describe the characteristics associated with a publication in a high impact journal.

Methodology: Medical students who obtained a medical oncology appointment in France between 2010 and 2015 were retrospectively identified. Records of medical theses listed in the SUDOC University Documentation System catalog were used and cross-referenced with a Medline search.

Results: Of the one hundred and eighty-five students included in the analysis, a publication indexed in Medline was found for 55 of them (29.7%). The average impact-factor was 5.71. The main factor independently associated with publication was a delay of ≤5 years between appointment and thesis defense dates. Among the published works, the time between appointment and defense, language of publication, study design, number of centers and patients included, and the fact that the thesis reported a clinical trial, were associated with publication in a journal with a high impact factor.

Conclusion: These results show an approximative thesis work publication rate of 70% by medical oncology residents, and suggest the importance of starting the thesis project early during the residency in order to be published.

Keywords: Internat; Medical Oncology; Medical studies; Medical thesis; Oncologie médicale; Publication; Residency; Thèse; Étude de médecine.