Abstract
BackgroundWhile several individual studies addressing research productivity of post-graduate students are available, a synthesis of effective strategies to increase productivity and the determinants of productivity in low-income countries has not been undertaken. Further, whether or not this research from post-graduate students’ projects was applied in evidence-informed decision-making was unknown. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of literature to identify and assess the effectiveness of approaches that increase productivity (proportion published) or the application (proportion cited) of post-graduate students’ research, as well as to assess the determinants of post-graduate students’ research productivity and use.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review as per our a priori published protocol, also registered in PROSPERO (CRD42016042819). We searched for published articles in PubMed/MEDLINE and the ERIC databases through to July 2017. We performed duplicate assessments for included primary studies and resolved discrepancies by consensus. Thereafter, we completed a structured narrative synthesis and, for a subset of studies, we performed a meta-analysis of the findings using both fixed and random effects approaches. We aligned our results to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement.ResultsWe found 5080 articles in the PubMed (n = 3848) and ERIC (n = 1232) databases. After excluding duplicates (n = 33), we screened 5047 articles, of which 5012 were excluded. We then retrieved 44 full texts and synthesised 14, of which 4 had a high risk of bias. We did not find any studies assessing effectiveness of strategies for increasing publication nor citations of post-graduate research projects. We found an average publication proportion of 7% (95% CI 7–8%, Higgins I-squared 0.0% and Cochran’s Q p < 0.01) and 23% (95% CI 17–29%, Higgins I-squared of 98.4% and Cochran’s Q, p < 0.01) using fixed effects and random effects models, respectively. Two studies reported on the citation of post-graduate students’ studies, at 17% (95% CI 15–19%) in Uganda and a median citation of 1 study in Turkey (IQR 0.6–2.3). Only one included study reported on the determinants of productivity or use of post-graduate students’ research, suggesting that younger students were more likely to publish and cohort studies were more likely to be published.ConclusionsWe report on the low productivity of post-graduate students’ research in low- and middle-income countries, including the citation of post-graduate students’ research in evidence-informed health policy in low- and middle-income countries. Secondly, we did not find a single study that assessed strategies to increase productivity and use of post-graduate students’ research in evidence-informed health policy, a subject for future research.
Highlights
While several individual studies addressing research productivity of post-graduate students are available, a synthesis of effective strategies to increase productivity and the determinants of productivity in lowincome countries has not been undertaken
We did not find a single article reporting on the effects of strategies to increase productivity or increase the use of post-graduate students research and synthesis was based on other relevant outcomes to map the field for future studies
We did not assess the overall quality of evidence, as we did not find effectiveness studies or studies with comparison groups testing interventions for increasing productivity or use of post-graduate students research [8]
Summary
While several individual studies addressing research productivity of post-graduate students are available, a synthesis of effective strategies to increase productivity and the determinants of productivity in lowincome countries has not been undertaken. We conducted a systematic review of literature to identify and assess the effectiveness of approaches that increase productivity (proportion published) or the application (proportion cited) of post-graduate students’ research, as well as to assess the determinants of post-graduate students’ research productivity and use. Writing a thesis is a fundamental step for post-graduate studies globally [1] This process inculcates knowledge and skills for scientific enquiry, critical thinking, systematic problem-solving, and appraisal of scientific and lay claims. Our first aim was to conduct a systematic review of literature that identifies and assesses the effectiveness of approaches that increase productivity (proportion published) or the application (proportion cited) of post-graduate students’ research. Our second aim was to assess the determinants of post-graduate students’ research productivity and use
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