Medical research and students in Latin America

Medical students and research: Is there a current discrepancy between education and demands?

“…As a medical student embarking on a scientific career, I read a recent article in The Lancet , describing research initiatives by undergraduate students in Latin America, with great interest [1]. According to the authors, student societies have played a key role in organizing and conducting scientific congresses over the past ten years.…”

“…According to the authors, student societies have played a key role in organizing and conducting scientific congresses over the past ten years. In addition, student-led publications have been developed in order to “familiarise students with scientific publishing and train future editors of biomedical journals” [1]. As much as I was impressed by these examples of academic student engagement, I was left with one question: As medical schools are in charge of developing not only doctors, but moreover academic professionals, is there a current lack of formal research education and support on behalf of academic institutions?…”

Latin American undergraduate medical journals

“…This trend beckons stimulating the interest in medical research early in students’ medical training, including those skills needed to publish and exercise ethical scientific conduct (2, 3). …”

“…In Latin America, the last two decades has seen the emergence of student medical journals aimed at developing medical research interest among undergraduates and increasing research and scientific publication (3, 4). Many of these journals arose, in part, from the foundation of the Latin American Federation of Medical Students Scientific Societies (FELSOCEM) which, in 1986, was created to promote and stimulate undergraduate medical research (4).…”

“…Last year, in Honduras, a consensus was reached on the need to: 1) increase quality/standards toward achieving Scopus indexing; and 2) focus on the ethical aspects of undergraduate scientific publishing (3, 6). …”