Thematic, methodological, and editorial trends of preventive and community medicine theses in Tunisia over forty years

Abstract

IntroductionThe assessment of the medical doctoral dissertation is a preliminary step in the promoting of scientific writing. this study aimed to describe the research topics, study designs and quality writing of Preventive and Community Medicine academic dissertations in Tunisia. Material and MethodsIt’s a bibliometric study covering the Preventive and Community Medicine doctoral dissertations performed in the faculties of medicine of Tunisia over forty years (1980-2019). The research topics were determined from the descriptors, grouped into major descriptors and thematic groups. The types of studies were classified according to the Evidence-Based Medicine pyramid. The editorial quality assessment was based on a 20-item grid, deduced from the International Committee of Editors of Medical Journals repository, and applied to the abstracts of thesis. It was considered satisfactory if the score was ≥75/100 points. ResultsIn total 595 PCM doctoral dissertations were performed in 40 years. Themes of dissertations were studied through 2580 index lines and 1030 descriptors. Healthcare-associated infections, maternal health, smoking, and high blood pressure accounted for 25.4% among major descriptors. The major research category evolved from "family medicine and primary care" (40.9%) before 2000 to management of health facilities” (26.7%) after 2000. The study designs were population studies or synthesis research, respectively in 259 (43.5%) and 22 (3.7%) doctoral dissertations. The quality of scientific writing was satisfactory in 34.6% of doctoral dissertations globally. ConclusionPreventive and Community Medicine doctoral dissertations suffered from methodological and editorial shortcomings, which required their reform based on bibliometric assessment, capacity building and structural reform.