Association between publication in scientific journals and performance on the medical internship admission exam in hospitals of the Peruvian Social Security System

Arroyo-Hernández H.; Quijano-Escate K.R.; Sánchez-Vicente J.C.; Bautista-Ramírez F.E.; Chavez-Ecos F.A. · Revista Facultad de Medicina (2026) · DOI: 10.15446/revfacmed.v74.120446

Resumen

Introduction: Medical students who engage in scientific research activities are more likely to produce scientific work and achieve better academic performance. Objective: To determine the association between publishing in peer-reviewed scientific journals and performance on the medical internship admission exam in hospitals of the Peruvian Social Security System (EsSalud). Materials and methods: Cross-sectional analytical study including medical students who took the medical internship admission exam at EsSalud hospitals in 2018 and 2019. Publications were identified through searches on Google Scholar and PubMed. Regression models and generalized linear models with a binomial distribution were used to assess the association between having published at least one article in a peer-reviewed scientific journal prior to the internship and exam score. Results: Of the 1 465 students evaluated, 53.17% were male, 57.27% studied at public universities, and only 7.17% had published at least one article in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Students with at least one publication scored, on average, one point higher on the exam (β Coeff.: 1.02, 95%CI: 0.64-1.39; p=0.001). Furthermore, having published at least one article before the internship was associated with a 27% and 20% higher prevalence of achieving scores above the average (aPR: 1.27, 95%CI: 1.17-1.38; p=0.001) and in the top tertile (aPR: 1.20, 95%CI: 1.09-1.32; p=0.001), respectively. Conclusions: Publishing at least one article in peer-reviewed scientific journals before the internship was associated with better performance on the medical internship admission exam at EsSalud hospitals in Peru, with a higher prevalence of scores above the average and in the top tertile.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga; Universidad de Huánuco