Introduction: bibliometric research is a tool that meets the needs that demand the production and dissemination of knowledge through the application of statistical methods, and requires constant evaluation in scientific events as one of the means of disseminating results. Objective: to describe the articles presented at the I Virtual Conference of Student Scientific Publication PubliSur 2021. Methods: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional bibliometric study of the 32 articles presented at the I Virtual Conference on Student Scientific Publication in November 2023 was carried out. Results: review articles predominated (n = 16; 50 %). The topic of greatest attraction for the participants was the evaluation of student scientific production and its publication (n = 11; 34.38 %). Ninety-eight authors participated, and the female sex stood out (n = 51; 52.04 %). Articles composed of 3 authors predominated (n = 12; 37.50 %). They came from 4 institutions and the most productive was the University of Medical Sciences of Cienfuegos (n = 25; 78.13 %). A total of 570 references were used, with an average of 18 references per article and an update of 81.93%. Price index was between 0.68 and 0.75. Conclusions: review articles on the evaluation of student scientific production and its publication, formed by several predominantly female authors, led the production of the University of Medical Sciences of Cienfuegos, as well as the use of bibliographic references in Spanish were the significant aspects that characterized PubliSur 2021.
Bibliometrics, Evaluation of health research, Scientific and outreach events, Bibliometric indicators.
Scientific research sets important guidelines for sustaining and acquiring knowledge, thereby preserving the development and self-improvement of students. Currently, Cuban universities support and encourage researchers to develop scientific articles that address the main health problems in their territories, thus producing competent professionals. ( 1 )
At scientific events and forums led by students and professionals, each manuscript contributes a result based on research and the development of thematic lines applied to personal reality. Cuba has a broad scientific-student movement that leads the administration of scientific journals and conferences that connect undergraduate students with young university students in science. [2]
The virtual modality allows scientific events to achieve greater reach and participation among national and international students. Virtual scientific events constitute a channel that allows the dissemination and socialization of scientific productions to the scientific community. This modality is currently widely used and greatly contributes to the needs and preferences of researchers, due to its recognized as a more didactic and flexible learning method. ( 3-5 )
Bibliometrics is a discipline used as a method to provide a measurable value to the results of scientific activity. It facilitates the quantitative analysis of scientific publications in terms of their research trends and patterns, elements that are fundamental because they allow mapping and visualizing bibliometric indicators. [6]
In the study of scientific research, bibliometric indicators are responsible for quantifying the progress of science in general. Applied to the broad world of scientific information and knowledge, they constitute a powerful tool capable of providing data and information to guide management and problem-solving processes in different contexts. ( 7 )
At the first edition of the PubliSur 2021 event, Cuban students demonstrated their research skills. This research can be used as an indicator of the research presented at the event and aims to describe the articles presented at the 1st PubliSur 2021 Virtual Student Scientific Publication Conference.
sectional bibliometric study was conducted in November 2023. The study population consisted of the 32 articles presented at the 1st Virtual Conference on Student Scientific Publication: PubliSur 2021; all of them were selected manually.
The variables studied were: article type, research topics, number of authors, sex of authors, most productive institutions, number of references, age of references, Price index (PI), and language of references.
The IP was calculated by quoting the references present in the articles, belonging to the 5 years prior to receipt of the article, and the total number of references used.
http://publisur2021.sld.cu/index.php/publisur/2021 ) was accessed on November 4, 2023 , and articles were downloaded in Portable Document Format (PDF). The variables for each article were stored in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and processed using descriptive statistics. It was not necessary to use the Declaration of Helsinki since no human subjects were researched and the data collected are public.
| Claudia Amalia Cuevas Rodriguez; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6579-4505 |
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| Claudia Amalia Cuevas Rodriguez; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6579-4505 |
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Regarding the topics proposed to the authors at the event, the evaluation of student scientific production and its publication (n = 11; 34.38% ) was the most attractive to the participants. ( TABLE 2 ) .
| Typology | No. | % |
|---|---|---|
| Review article | 16 | 50.00 |
| Original article | 14 | 43.75 |
| Brief communication | 2 | 6.25 |
| Total | 32 | 100 |
Ninety-eight authors were registered, with the majority being three-authored studies (n=12; 37.50%). Female students were the author of 52.04% of the studies (n=51), as shown in TABLE 3 .
| Research Topics | No. | % |
|---|---|---|
| Progress in the implementation of principles and models for open science | 2 | 6.25 |
| Challenges for scientific research and the publication of its results | 8 | 25.00 |
| Ethics in scientific publication | 5 | 15.63 |
| Databases: characteristics and possibilities for the positioning of scientific journals | 1 | 3.13 |
| Impact and influence of student scientific journals in the open science paradigm | 1 | 3.13 |
| Impact of COVID-19 on scientific publications | 4 | 12.50 |
| Evaluation of student scientific production and its publication | 11 | 34.38 |
| Total | 32 | 100 |
The articles came from 4 institutions , the most productive being the University of Medical Sciences of Cienfuegos (n = 25; 49.02%) ( TABLE 4 ).
| Number of authors | No. | % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 6.25 |
| 2 | 9 | 28.13 |
| 3 | 12 | 37.50 |
| 4 | 5 | 15.63 |
| 5 | 2 | 6.25 |
| 6 | 2 | 6.25 |
| Total | 32 | 100 |
| Sex of the authors | No. | % |
| Male | 47 | 47.96 |
| Female | 51 | 52.04 |
| Total | 98 | 100 |
Legend: UCM – University of Medical Sciences.
A total of 570 references were used, with an average of 18 references per article, mostly review articles (n = 295). The PI ranged from 0.68 (original article) to 0.75 (short communication). The majority of references used were in Spanish, with a total of 513 ( TABLE 5 ).
| Institutions | No. | % |
|---|---|---|
| UCM of Pinar del Río | 12 | 23, 08 |
| UCM of Cienfuegos | 25 | 4 8.08 |
| UCM of Ciego de Ávila | 7 | 13, 46 |
| UCM of Havana | 7 | 13, 46 |
| Dr. Gustavo Aldereguía Lima University Hospital | 1 | 1.92 |
| Total | 52 | 100 |
The 1st Publisur 2021 National Virtual Conference on Student Scientific Publishing was characterized by its high level of quality and contribution to the development and improvement of scientific publishing. It was evident how the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic boosted scientific production and the challenges it faced. [8]
Bibliographic reviews are articles that update a specific topic, and according to Jiménez-Franco et al. [8] , in their research, review articles are only allowed for students in the basic cycle, and the rest of the modalities, especially free topics, for the rest of the years. This justifies the existence of more of these modalities in most scientific events, which does not correspond to the present research.
However, a study conducted by Benítez-Rojas et al. [9] reveals the predominance of bibliographic reviews that agree with the present research, which may be due to the fact that students in higher years have a greater academic load and attendance hours, and reduce the time dedicated to writing original articles.
The research that evaluated student scientific production and its publication was the most representative at the event, which coincides with the research of Ramos-Cordero et al. [10] and Corrales-Reyes et al. [11] who in a similar study showed that the topic with the greatest participation is closely related to the main theme of the event in question.
Several authors warn about the need to study and evaluate student scientific activity [12], [13] . However, despite the importance attributed to this process, the analysis of student scientific production from the perspective of national events has been addressed by few investigations and in this sense it is necessary to also evaluate the institutions or centers with the highest scientific production in order to make known the scientific level reached by their undergraduate students. [14]
López-Catá et al. [15] state that the host province or locality that sponsors a scientific event presents the greatest number of participants. In this article, the University of Medical Sciences of Cienfuegos was the most productive institution, agreeing with the above.
Several studies [12], [14] have found a predominance of research with multiple authors, with articles with four authors representing the highest percentage; while a study by Vitón-Castillo et al. [13] found a predominance of articles signed by two authors. The previous results do not correspond to the present study, in which articles were predominantly authored by three authors.
According to López-Catá et al. [15] and Díaz-Rodríguez et al. [16] in their articles, bibliographic references confer scientific validity to research and provide a setting for formulating comparisons of results, drawing up schemes and confirming hypotheses, opinion that is supported by the level of updating and credibility of the bibliography of the works analyzed in this study .
According to Landrove-Escalona et al. [17] , the publication of articles in English is focused on the difficult task of attracting foreign readers, since this increases the journal's impact factor, which allows indexing in important databases. It is necessary to increase the citation of articles in English, as evidenced by the bibliographic reviews in this report, which presented a lower number of citations, since the English language has become the lingua franca of technology at a global level; it is used by the vast majority of analysts to communicate their inquiries, according to Encalada-Díaz et al. [18] .
The Price index corroborated the use of up-to-date bibliographic references in the present bibliometric study, but not sufficiently. This is understandable in the case of the historical article and case reports, but not in the case of the original articles and bibliographic reviews. According to the criterion of Espinosa-Goire et al [19] , greater credit is given to research and the development of collaborative networks, which denotes the quality of the review to which the manuscript is subjected prior to publication.
Women receive less funding for research; they have less participation in the authorship of scientific articles, either as principal or senior researcher, so their recognition through academic awards is lower than that of men, [20] which does not correspond to research due to the predominance of women; however, this article does correspond to a bibliometric study of the journal Información Científica 2017-2019 in which women had the greatest participation. [21]
The authors of this research argue that it is essential for all medical science students to aspire to participate in scientific events, whether in person or online. The experience gained at these gatherings becomes a solid and necessary foundation for students when they embark on their professional careers. In this context, the constant pursuit of knowledge must always prevail.
The authors considered the instability of the connection networks for accessing data from the virtual event platform to be a limitation of the bibliometric study. The analysis of the results of this article makes it necessary to evaluate the scientific work of university students and promote the development of science, research, and publication in the provinces, in addition to enhancing the quality and promotion of these events in undergraduate studies.
The most significant aspects that characterized PubliSur 2021 were the prevalence of review articles on the evaluation of student scientific production, the publication consisting of several predominantly female authors, the leadership in scientific production by the Cienfuegos University of Medical Sciences, as well as the use of bibliographic references in Spanish.
EAHG: conceptualization, supervision, project administration, methodology, research, formal analysis, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing.
SMRL: research, writing – original draft.
DMH: research, writing – original draft.
EALE: formal analysis, data curation.
JMPG: research, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing.
YEG: research, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing.
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
The authors did not receive funding for the development of this article.
Copyright 2024 Eduardo Antonio Hernández-González et al.
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