The scientific production of medical students in Latin America, is poor and below their potential. The reason for this is the low theoretical and practical knowledge of scientific writing, a low margin for new knowledge generation, a heavy academic and clinical load, and the expected profile of the medical school graduate. In the present short communication, we propose teaching courses in research methodology, scientific writing in English and Spanish, a personalized search for students and mentors with research aptitudes. Also, we propose academic and material stimuli for publishing, rewards for the best papers made by students and the development and support of scientific student journals. Other proposals are the requirement to publish a paper for graduation, and sharing the most outstanding experiences.

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The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) was recently developed to assess dysfunctional anxiety related to COVID-19. Although different studies reported that the CAS is psychometrically sound, it is unclear whether it is invariant across countries. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the measurement invariance of the CAS in twelve Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay). A total of 5196 people participated, with a mean age of 34.06 (SD = 26.54). Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the measurement invariance of the CAS across countries and gender. Additionally, the graded response model (GRM) was used to provide a global representation of the representativeness of the scale with respect to the COVID-19 dysfunctional anxiety construct. The unidimensional structure of the five-item CAS was not confirmed in all countries. Therefore, it was suggested that a four-item model of the CAS (CAS-4) provides a better fit across the twelve countries and reliable scores. Multigroup CFA showed that the CAS-4 exhibits scalar invariance across all twelve countries and all genders. In addition, the CAS-4 items are more informative at average and high levels of COVID-19 dysfunctional anxiety than at lower levels. According to the results, the CAS-4 is an instrument with strong cross-cultural validity and is suitable for cross-cultural comparisons of COVID-19 dysfunctional anxiety symptoms in the general population of the twelve Latin American countries evaluated. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02563-0.

Introducción: Los estudios bibliométricos aplicados a las revistas científicas constituyen instrumentos que permiten evaluar el desempe˜no e impacto de estas. Objetivo: Analizar los artículos publicados en la revista Investigación en Educación Médica en el período 2012-2016. Método: Se realizó un estudio bibliométrico descriptivo-retrospectivo de los documentos publicados en el período 2012-2016. Las variables estudiadas fueron: total de números, total de artículos, citas, promedio de citas por a˜no, promedio de citas por artículos, promedio de citas por autores, promedio de citas por autores por a˜no, promedio de artículos por autor, promedio de autores por artículo, índice h, índice g, índice h contemporáneo (hc), índice hI, índice hI normalizado, índice AWCR, índice AW, índice AWCRpA, índice e, índice hm, índice hI anual, cobertura H, cobertura G, tipología documental, afiliación de los autores, índice de colaboración, referencias bibliográficas, grado de actualidad de las referencias bibliográficas según el índice de Price e idiomas de las referencias bibliográficas. Se calcularon los indicadores cienciométricos mediante el software Harzing’s Publish or Perish 5, tomando como base de datos el Google Académico. Resultados: La revista ha recibido 330 citas y posee un índice h igual a 7. Se publicaron 280 artículos (100 originales), con una media de 56.0±33.05 por a˜no. El artículo más citado obtuvo 37 citas (12.33 citas por a˜no) y estuvo relacionado con la técnica de grupos focales. Los países con mayor cantidad de artículos fueron: México con 156, Espa˜na con 6, así como Estados Unidos y Chile con 5. Se contabilizaron 550 autores firmantes y el índice de colaboración fue de 2.86. Se revisaron 3,465 referencias bibliográficas (68.57% en inglés); el promedio de referencias por artículo fue de 18.05±13.49. El índice de Price osciló entre 0.24 y 0.67, con un promedio de 0.31. Conclusiones: Las secciones «Artículos Originales» y «Resúmenes» sobresalen como las tipologías documentales más utilizadas. El artículo más citado estuvo relacionado con la técnica de grupos focales. Existió predominio de autoría mexicana, así como de artículos realizados por un solo autor y referencias en idioma inglés. El índice de Price mostró un valor comparable con el de otras revistas de alto impacto.

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AimsOver the past 2 years, the vaccine conspiracy beliefs construct has been used in a number of different studies. These publications have assessed the determinants and outcomes of vaccine conspiracy beliefs using, in some cases, pooled data from different countries, and compared the results across these contexts. However, studies often do not consider measurement invariance as a necessary requirement for comparative analyses. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the cross-cultural MI of the COVID-19 Vaccine Conspiracy Beliefs Scale (COVID-VCBS) in 12 Latin American countries.MethodsConfirmatory factor analysis, item response theory analysis and alignment method were applied to test measurement invariance in a large number of groups.ResultsThe COVID-VCBS showed robust psychometric properties and measurement invariance for both factor loadings and crosstabs. Also, a higher level of acceptance of conspiracy beliefs about vaccines is necessary to respond to higher response categories. Similarly, greater acceptance of conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines was related to a lower intention to be vaccinated.ConclusionThe results allow for improved understanding of conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines in the countries assessed; furthermore, they provide researchers and practitioners with an invariant measure that they can use in cross-cultural studies in Latin America. However, further studies are needed to test invariance in other countries, with the goal of developing a truly international measure of conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines.

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The present study aimed to evaluate the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS) in ten Latin American countries. A total of 2,321 people who had lost a family member or other loved one due to COVID-19 participated, with a mean age of 34.22 years old (SD = 11.99). In addition to the PGS, a single item of suicidal ideation was applied. The unidimensional model of the PGS had adequate fit in most countries and good reliability estimates. There was evidence of measurement invariance by country and gender. Also, a one-point increase in the PGS was associated with an almost twofold increase in the odds of suicidal ideation. Scores greater than or equal to 4 on the PGS are proposed as a cut off to identify individuals with suicidal ideation. Strong evidence of the cross-cultural validity of the PGS is provided.