Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate undergraduate dental students’ utilization of electronic scientific information resources and to identify the specific trends found among students at different years of study. A cross-sectional web survey of all undergraduate dental students in Riyadh Colleges of Dentistry and Pharmacy was conducted. Descriptive analysis was undertaken and differences between groups were examined using Chi-square test. A response rate of 40.5% (n = 740) was achieved. 44% of the respondents used Medline for study purpose and 47.8% for research. 56.1% used full-text journal articles online for both study and research purpose. Only 25.9% searched Medline at least 1 to 7 times/month for study purpose and 22.2% for research. 42% used full-text journal articles at least 1 to 7 times/month for both study and research purpose. Clinical students were more likely to use full-text journal articles for study and research and female students were more likely to use Medline for research (p < 0.05). A majority of the respondents were non-users of Medline. The use of Medline and full-text journal articles increased moderately toward the end of the study. Training dental students in effective information searching and including the use of full-text articles in the dental curriculum will increase the use of electronic scientific resources. Key words: Medline, full-text articles, dental, students, electronic resources.
Highlights
Information nowadays is widely available through the internet and an efficient internet user would be able to reflect and conceptualize this information
With the implementation of complete computer based information system and the Saudi Digital Library (SDL) in Riyadh Colleges of Dentistry and Pharmacy (RCsDP), this study aims to examine the utilization of electronic scientific resources among the undergraduate dental students and to identify the specific trends found among students at different years of study
The purpose of this study was to examine the use of electronic scientific resources among the undergraduate dental students in RCsDP using a Percentage web survey
Summary
Information nowadays is widely available through the internet and an efficient internet user would be able to reflect and conceptualize this information. Electronic scientific information resources have great significance in the progression of teaching and learning. E-learning resources and tools like database software and database websites such as Medline are key items in dentistry (Mattheos et al, 2008). Students can find the information available in the internet overwhelming; skills are essential for identifying and verifying the quality of information. Training is needed to learn how to proficiently use the web-based search tools and standardized filtering techniques in order to find highquality information resources. A recent study among research scholars and postgraduate students reported that the majority used electronic scientific resources for research and study purpose (Sonkar et al, 2014).
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