ArticlePloS one2025
Publication outcomes and research trends in bachelor's and master's theses in health sciences in Croatia: retrospective cohort study and survey of mentors.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
20 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesConducting original research within bachelor's and master's theses (dissertations) and publishing thesis results in scientific journals has multiple advantages. This study aimed to analyze types and publication outcomes of bachelor's and master's theses defended by students of health sciences studies in Croatia.
designWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of bachelor's and master's theses of students of health studies in Croatia, defended by May 14, 2022, and a cross-sectional study of mentors who were surveyed for publication output.
settingWe analyzed theses from repositories. Thesis mentors were surveyed via e-mail about the publication of the thesis content in scholarly journals. Additionally, three online sources (PubMed, Google Scholar, and Google) were used to find theses-based publications.
participantsWe surveyed mentors of bachelor's and master's theses of health sciences students in Croatia.
resultsWe analyzed 9861 theses, 7979 (81%) bachelor's and 1882 (19%) master's theses. Most (66%) of master's theses were based on original research, compared to 21% of bachelor's theses. Mentors of 3910 (40%) theses responded to the survey, indicating that 176/3910 (4.5%) of theses results were published in scientific journals. Through additional search of online sources, we found that from all analyzed theses, 276 (2.8%) articles were published in a scholarly journal. Among published articles, 229 (83%) were published in Croatian journals.
conclusionsMost analyzed theses were not based on original research. Results of a few theses were published in a scientific journal. Institutions should encourage mentors and students to conduct original research within theses and to publish thesis results in a journal, to further develop health sciences.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.