ArticleBMC medical education2026
Enhancing research capacity among students in Nigeria: insights from a 24-week online training program for undergraduate medical and dental clinical students.
Article in BMC medical education, 2026. 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
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMedical and dental school training provides limited research exposure due to the extensive curriculum. This study aimed to explore students’ perception of a 24-week virtual training initiative on manuscript writing for medical and dental students.
methodsAn interpretative phenomenological approach was used to explore the experiences of 20 clinical medical and dental undergraduate dental surgery students who participated in a virtual manuscript writing training in Nigeria. Participants were selected from 45 applicants through a competitive process, ensuring gender and geographical diversity. The program included fortnightly lectures, monthly statistics classes, mentorship, and group assignments, culminating in the submission of reflective essays. These essays were inductively analyzed to identify key themes related to skill development, mentorship, challenges, and program impact, with coding independently conducted by two reviewers to enhance rigor.
resultsOf the 20 participants who completed the program, 19 submitted reflective essays. Participants, primarily undergraduate medicine and surgery (55%) and undergraduate dental surgery (45%) students from 11 Nigerian institutions, highlighted improvements in research skills, mentorship experiences, and collaboration through the structured training. Four themes emerged: program strengths (skills development, mentorship, interactive learning), challenges (time management, technology issues, program design), impact (increased confidence, research interest, networking, career development), and recommendations (program adjustments and inclusivity). Participants reported tangible outcomes by the program’s end, including research protocol submissions, grant applications, literature review registrations, and national conference presentations.
conclusionDespite challenges, participants acknowledged the training’s positive impact on their academic and professional growth. The program’s ability to equip students with essential research and writing skills highlights its potential as a scalable model for strengthening research capacity among undergraduate clinical students in resource-limited settings. Undergraduate medicine and surgery and undergraduate dental surgery students’ curricula can integrate the core elements of the current program that contributed to its success into ongoing training programs.
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.