Abstract
Background
The Royal College of Pediatricians of Thailand requires that all its residents complete a full thesis before their final Thai Pediatric Board Examination. The Department of Pediatrics of the Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University (PSU) has been certified for pediatric residency training since 1985.
Objectives
To determine the number of articles published in medical journals that are based on the theses of residents during 25 years of pediatric resident training, and how long after finishing their residency training the articles were published.
Methods
Medical journal databases were searched for the names of former pediatric residents. The faculty staff who had supervised them during their training were asked to confirm whether the residents had published their work.
Results
During the 25 years (1988–2012), we found records of 34 articles based on the theses of 130 residents published in a medical journal (26%). In the early phase (1988–2002), 15 articles from 67 theses (22%) were published: 10 (67%) in Thai or regional English language journals, and 5 (33%) in international peer-reviewed journals. In the second phase (2003–2012), 19 articles from 63 theses (30%) were published: 6 (32%) in regional English language journals, and 13 (68%) in peer-reviewed international journals.
Conclusions
The publication rate of PSU pediatric residency research theses during the 25 years was 26%. We recommend that our faculty devote more time to ensuring supervision of the thesis writing component of the residency training to increase the publication rate of research theses by our residents.