
==== Front
Tunis Med
Tunis Med
Tunis Med
La Tunisie Médicale
0041-4131
2724-7031
Tunisian Society of Medical Sciences

Article
Publication des thèses de pédiatrie soutenues à la faculté de de médecine de Tunis: Une étude sur 15 ans
Publication of pediatric theses defended at the Tunis Faculty of Medicine: A 15-year study.Kaddour Fethi 112
Mazigh Sonia 1134
Borsali Nebiha 113
Mrabet Ali 113
Labbène Iheb 112
Chadli Aschraf 113
1. University of Tunis El Manar, Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, Tunisia.
2. Department of Academic Affairs, Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar.
3. Thesis and dissertation committee, Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar.
4. Bechir Hamza hospital, Pediatrics department C, Tunis, Tunisia
4 2023
05 4 2023
102 4 212216
2022
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
RESUME

Introduction: La valorisation de la thèse par sa publication est nécessaire afin de rendre le travail visible. Peu de données existent concernant les caractéristiques des thèses soutenues à la faculté de médecine de Tunis. Objectif: Etudier le taux de publication des thèses de pédiatrie et identifier les facteurs associés à une augmentation du taux de publication. Méthodes: Nous avons réalisé une étude bibliométrique descriptive transversale des thèses de pédiatrie soutenues à la faculté de médecine de Tunis sur une période de 15 ans, de 2006 à 2020. Les thèses étaient extraites du catalogue de la bibliothèque de la faculté. Les publications ont été recherchées dans les bases de données "PubMed" et "Google Scholar" jusqu'au décembre 2021. Résultats: l'étude a porté sur 235 thèses de pédiatrie. Soixante-huit thèses ont été publiées, soit 29% du total. Les principaux thèmes des thèses publiées étaient la néonatologie (16%) et l'hématologie (15%). La langue de publication était le français et l'anglais dans 55% et 45% des cas, respectivement. Toutes les publications dans les revues Q1 et Q2 ont été rédigées en anglais. Le seul facteur indépendant prédisant la publication de la thèse était la mention très honorable avec félicitations du jury et la proposition pour le prix de thèse (p=0,007). Conclusion: Des évaluations complémentaires seront nécessaires pour identifier les obstacles à la publication des thèses.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The valorisation of thesis through its publication is necessary to enhance its visibility. Few data exist concerning the characteristics of theses defended at the Tunis faculty of medicine. AIM: Examine the publication rate of pediatric theses and identify factors associated with an increased publication rate. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive bibliometric study of pediatric theses defended at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis over 15 years, from 2006 to 2020. Theses were retrieved from the catalog of the faculty library. Publications had been searched in databases "Pub Med ", and "Google Scholar" until December2021. RESULTS: The study involved 235 pediatric theses. Sixty-eight theses were published, representing 29% of the total. The main topics of published theses were neonatology (16%) and hematology (15%). The language of publication was French and English in 55% and 45% of cases, respectively. All publications in Q1 and Q2 journals were written in English. The only independent factor predicting publication of theses was the very honourable mention with congratulations of the jury and proposal for the thesis prize (p=0,007). CONCLUSION: Additional assessments will be necessary to identify the obstacles to the publication of theses.

Mots clés

Pédiatrie
thèse
faculté de médecine
publication
journal scientifique
Keywords

Pediatrics
thesis
medical faculty
publication
scientific journal
==== Body
pmcintroduction

The medical doctoral thesis is a research project that aims to teach the doctoral student how to implement a scientific approach.

Tunisia, as well as many other countries, completing a thesis is a mandatory requirement for medical training programs. It often represents the doctoral candidate's first experience with the research world 1.

Publication of the thesis in an indexed journal enhances its visibility within the national and international scientific community

Two bibliometric studies were conducted on doctoral theses defended at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (FMT) for the years 2004 to 2005 2 and the years 2008 to 2010 3.

Regarding the specialty of "" Pediatrics", both studies revealed a publication rate that varied from 20 to 21.7%.

However, no bibliometric study has exclusively focused on the theses within this speciality.

The objectives of this study were to examine the publication rate of pediatric theses defended at the FMT and to identify potential factors associated with an increased publication rate.

Methods

Study type

This was a cross-sectional descriptive bibliometric study conducted on pediatric theses defended at the FMT over a 15-year period, from 2006 to 2020.

Study population

We included all pediatric theses, listed in the catalog of the library of the FMT, and defended between January 2, 2006, and December 31, 2020.

Theses dealing with a pediatric topic but directed by a teacher belonging to a specialty other than pediatrics were excluded.

Data collection

The identification of publications arising from the theses was conducted through a literature search in the "" PubMed" database and the scientific search engine ""Google Scholar" by entering the name of the doctoral student and/or the name of the director of each thesis.

The search for publications was extended until December 31, 2021.

For each publication, the resident's characteristics, the director's qualifications, the thesis features and bibliometric informations were retrieved.

Applied definitions

Bibliometrics

Bibliometrics is the quantitative evaluation of the scientific output of a researcher, a group of individuals, or a journal by counting scholarly publications and the impact of this activity on the community through received citations 4.

Impact Factor Quartile (IFQ)

Used to rank journals according to their impact factor from highest to lowest.

For a given field, journals considered to have a high impact factor are in the first quartile (Q1), those with a lower impact factor are in the second quartile (Q2), followed by (Q3) and (Q4) 5.

During our study, the journal quartiles were determined according to the Scimago institutions ranking 6.

Statistical analyses

The data were analysed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) version 25.

Percentages were compared using Pearson's chi-square test or Fisher's exact test if the validity conditions were not met.

To quantify the association between the publication of a scientific article based on a pediatric thesis and different predictive factors, we calculated the odds ratio (OR) presented with its 95% confidence interval.

The explanatory variables with a significance level below 20% in univariate analysis were introduced into the final model and analyzed using binary logistic regression.

The strength of the association between the explanatory variables and the explained variable, adjusted for various confounding factors, was quantified using an adjusted odds ratio (ORa) presented with its 95% confidence interval.

Results

Our study focused on 235 pediatric theses (5% of all theses defended at FMT between 2006 and 2020).

Sixtyeight of them were published, accounting for 29% of the total.

Among the 68 published theses, 66 resulted in a single publication, one thesis had two publications, and another had three publications, totaling 71 publications.

The time interval between the theses defense date and their publication ranged from one month to eight years, with an average of two years and two months.

Three theses were published before the defense date.

Publications of the theses were in the form of original articles in 80% of cases and published abstracts in 19% of cases.

One thesis was published as a case report.

Twenty-five medical journals provided the support for the 71 publications from the theses.

Among these journals, nine were related to the specialty and accounted for 22.5% of the publications (Table 1).

Eleven medical journals were from other specialties(Table 2) and five were generalist journals that published 53.5% of the publications resulting from the theses (Table 3).

La Tunisie médicale, a general medical journal, published 31 (44%) of the research derived from the theses.

Regarding high-impact scientific journals in the first quartile, three out of the 235 theses studied were published as original articles in Q1 journals.

These journals were The European Journal of Gastro-Enterology and Pathology, The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and The International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Three other theses were published as abstracts in the British Medical Journal.

The main topics of published pediatric theses were neonatology (16%, 11 theses), hematology (15%, 10 theses), and nephrology and gastrology (13%, 8 theses for both) ( Figure1).

The language of publication was French and English in 55% and 45% of cases, respectively.

All publications in Q1 and Q2 journals were written in English.

The median number of citations was 6.4 for publications in French and seven for publications in English.

The name of the director was present in all publications.

It was cited first in 75% of cases.

The name of the doctoral student was mentioned in 52/71 publications, accounting for 73% of cases, and was placed in the second position in 40% of cases.

The affiliation of the authors with the FMT or the University of Tunis El Manar (UTM) was mentioned in 40 publications, constituting 60% of the total.

For publications in Q1 and Q2 journals, the affiliation with the FMT or the UTM was mentioned in 66% of cases.

The factors associated with the publication of pediatric theses, in the univariate analysis, were conducting the study in a specialized pediatric service, a bi- or multicentric study, and the grade awarded by the jury, with crude OR and 95% CI of 2.96 [1.3-6.4], p=0.01; 2.71[1.2-5.7], p=0.012; 2.73 [1.3-5.4], p=0.005, respectively.

The multivariate analysis identified the mention "" Très honorable avec les félicitations du jury et proposition au prix de thèse" (Very Honorable with Congratulations from the Jury and Proposal for Thesis Prize) awarded to the thesis after the defense as an independent predictive factor for the publication of theses, with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 2.65 [1.31 - 5.26] (p=0.007).

Discussion

The publication rate of pediatric theses defended at the FMT over a period of 15 years was 29%, with 71 publications from the 235studied theses.

Almost half of the publications were found in Tunisie Médicale, a general medical journal.

The main predictive factor for publication was the mention awarded to the thesis after the defense.

To our knowledge, this was the first study to investigate the publication outcome of pediatric theses defended at the FMT.

At the national level, the publication rate was significantly higher than that reported in a bibliometric study of theses defended at the Faculty of Medicine of Monastir (FMM) between 2001 and 2005, which was 9.6% for pediatrics 7 .

This rate was also slightly higher than that found in a bibliometric study of theses defended at the FMT between 2008 and 2010 3, where the publication rate for pediatric theses was 21.7%.

In other studies, the publication rate of works derived from theses was 17.5% for anatomical and pathological cytology 1 and 6% for medical resuscitation 8.

At the international level, the publication rate of pediatric theses for interns in the 2003 cohort in France was 27.9% 9.

In Brest, 13.2% of the theses defended between 2001 and 2005 were published, with 37.5% in pediatrics 10.

The language of publication for all of theses published in Q1 and Q2 journals was English. This indicator deserves consideration to enhance scientific writing in English.

This is the contemporary scientific communication language that ensures the widest dissemination of scientific information and increases the chances and quality of publication 11.

Its adoption in thesis writing could be valued in the competition evaluation criteria, rather than remaining optional as stated in the FMT thesis procedures (12).

This would also allow the candidate to save time lost in translating articles from English to French during the thesis writing process.

The doctoral student's name was mentioned in 52/71 publications, representing 73% of cases. At the FMT, there is no consensus on authorship and the order of author names in a research article based on a doctoral thesis.

A reflection on the order of author positioning in publications resulting from theses is necessary and could be oriented towards sensitizing supervisors to include doctoral students as authors in publications thereby encouraging them to publish studies more actively.

In our study, the affiliation of authors with FMT or UTM, as mentioned in the procedures for theses 12, was cited in 40 publications (60% of cases).

Affiliation with FMT and UTM was not mentioned in 33% of publications in Q1 and Q2 journals.

However, the years of publication were after 2013, which marks the date of the update of the procedures for theses.

In a bibliometric study on the evolution and impact of FMT publications over 55 years (1964 to 2019), the average rate of affiliation with FMT was 28%, ranging from 4% (1990-2010) to 44% (2011-2019) 13.

The improvement in the rate of mention of affiliation with FMT and UTM can be explained by the great efforts made in recent years by the UTM rectorate, the deanery, and some committees of the FMT (Theses and Dissertations Committee and Publication support Committee) in order to encourage teachers to reference FMT and UTM in their publications in order to increase the visibility of these two institutions.

Theses with "" Very Honorable Mention with Congratulations from the Jury and Proposal for Thesis Prize" were the most prolific in terms of publications compared to theses with other mentions.

This same result was reported by the bibliometric study of gastroenterology theses supported at FMT 14.

At FMT, the criteria for awarding mentions are codified based on an evaluation grid of the thesis by the members of the jury. This grid was developed by the Theses and Dissertations Committee of the faculty.

It is a quantitative, detailed grid that includes both editorial and methodological parameters.

It allows a precise and objective evaluation of thesis on both form and content 15.

Thus, the mention is awarded based on the score obtained: the very honorable mention with congratulations from the jury and proposal for thesis prize is awarded to theses with a score of 18/20 or higher.

The awarded mention is therefore a good indicator of the writing quality of the thesis, which explains its statistically significant association with the publication rate

On the other hand, in the bibliometric study of theses supported at FMM, 78 theses proposed for thesis prize had a low publication rate (10.3%) 7.

This difference could be explained in particular by the different evaluation criteria of one medical faculty compared to another.

Based on this study, recommendations could be formulated to enhance the publication rate of pediatric theses, including:

• Organizing workshops on article writing based on defended theses, where each participant will develop, discuss, and finalize his/her publication in collaboration between the Theses and Dissertations Committee and experienced authors.

• Conducting bibliometric studies of theses in other specialties to evaluate the quality of supervision by hospital-university teachers, identify obstacles to publication, and predictive factors.

• Establishing a budget within the Faculty of Medicine to fund the publication of work in paid journals.

• Emphasizing research methodology: Ensure that students receive comprehensive training in research methodology and study design.

A strong foundation in research methods will enhance the quality of their studies and increase the likelihood of acceptance by reputable journals.

• Selecting research topics strategically: Encourage students to choose research topics that have the potential for significant findings and clinical relevance.

Engage with them to identify gaps in knowledge or areas of emerging importance within the field of pediatrics.

conclusion

The publication rate of pediatric theses remains low.

Theses with "" Very Honorable Mention with Congratulations from the Jury and Proposal for Thesis Prize" were more likely to result in publications compared to theses with other mentions.

This reflects the importance of the writing and methodological quality of the thesis and its statistically significant association with the publication rate.
==== Refs
References

Chadli-Debbiche A Mrabet A Abidi E Borsali-Falfoul N Dziri C Impact of pathology thesis supported at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (2000-2010) Tunis Med 2016 94 3 172 175
Elloumi H Thesis supported at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis from 2004 to 2005: Scientific outcomes and predictive factors for publication Tunis Med 2017 95 4 236 241 29492926
Chadli-Debbiche A Abidi E Falfoul-Borsali N Mrabet A Dziri C Elloumi H Doctoral thesis publications in indexed journals: A study of thesis supported at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis from 2008 to 2010 Tunis Med 2017 95 10 847 853
Boissonneault J Bibliometrics 2022 https://sites.google.com/a/etsmtl.net/bibliometrie/
Deboin MC Fovet Rabot C Lambert MC The impact factor (IF) and its associated indicators to assess the reputation of a journal 2017 https://coop-ist.cirad.fr/evaluer/le-facteur-d'impact-et-ses-indicateurs-associes/1-familiarisez-vous-avec-le-facteur-d-impact-fi-ou-impact-factor-if
2022 https://www.scimagojr.com/
Ben Salem K Bouanene I Mosbahi N Elmhamdi S Soltani MS Ben Abdelaziz A Bibliometric profile and outcomes of thesis supported at the Faculty of Medicine of Monastir (Tunisia) Pédagogie Médicale 2011 12 3 169 178
Abbes S Medical intensive care thesis at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis: Bibliometric profile and outcomes Medicine: Tunis 2020
Fabre A Publication of pediatric residency thesis Arch Pediatr 2015 22 8 802 806 25934604
Carpentier M Roue JM Jaffrelot M Barraine P Salaun PY Le Gal G Publication of medical residency thesis at the Faculty of Medicine of Brest: Current state and avenues for improvement Presse Med 2012 41 5 542 543 22094173
Fondin H The language of scientific publication: The predominance of English and research Documentation et Bibliothèque 2009 25 2 59 69
Procedure for the State Doctorate in Medicine FMT cited 8 Dec 2022
Charfi R Mlika M Cheikhrouhou S Fekih HE Sellaouti F Zakhama L Evolution et impact des publications de la faculté de médecine de Tunis : étude sur 55 ans Tunis Med 2020 98 3 211 218 32395814
Bouyahya K Theses in gastroenterology defended at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis: bibliometric study from 2004 to 2016 Medicine: Tunis 2022
Évaluation de la thèse par les membres du jury pour l'obtention du doctorat en médecine Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur de la Recherche Scientifique 2021 cited 27 March 2022
