The impact of a curriculum-based research training program on medical students’ research productivity and future research interests: a longitudinal study

Incorporating scientific research into undergraduate medical education is necessary for the quality of future health care. However, providing rigorous research training to a large number of medical students at one institution remains one of the major challenges. The authors studied the impact of a curriculum-based Research Training Program (RTP) for all undergraduate students at Zhejiang University School of Medicine (ZUSM) on research productivity and future research interests. Medical students (n = 2,213) from ZUSM who completed the course of RTP between 2013 and 2020 were studied. The authors measured the academic performance, research publications, and research projects of students across years, and evaluated potential factors that contribute to student research productivity and increased interest in future research. Across the years, there was an increase in the number of student publications, a greater proportion of students with publications, and a greater proportion of projects involving three or more students (P < .01 for all). The academic performance of the course was associated with increased publications (P = .014), whereas overall satisfaction of the course (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.39, 3.10, P < .001), Skill Composite Score (SCS) (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.16, 2.50, P = .007), and male gender (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.06, 2.12, P = .022) were associated with increased future research interests. The findings suggest that the curriculum-based RTP improved students' research productivity, and that overall program satisfaction and self-assessed performance were associated with increased students' intent to participate in future research.