Characteristics of undergraduate dental theses defended in Peruvian licensed universities and factors associated with their publication

Introduction: In Peru, the defense of a university thesis allow to obtain a professional degree and demonstrate the research skills of the aspirant. Objectives: To characterize the undergraduate dental theses defended in Peruvian universities and those published in scientific journals, as well as to identify the factors associated with their publication. Methods: A cross-sectional, analytical and observational study was conducted using a search strategy in Google Scholar. We ascertained whether the theses defended between 2015-2018 had been published in scientific journals. Prevalence ratios (aPR), 95% confidence intervals (CI 95%) and p-values were obtained using generalized linear models. Results: Most of the theses were defended in private universities (65.9%), located in the provinces (76.7%), in 2017 (32.1%). The most studied line of research was Dental Education (n = 418; 18.4%). Of the total number of defended theses (n = 2,267), only 130 (5.7%) were published, in a total of 41 scientific journals, of which 22 are specialized in the dental field. The 130 articles received 443 citations, with an average of 3.4 citations per document. The Universidad Católica Santa María was the institution that defended the most theses (n = 372); however, the Universidad Científica del Sur presented the highest percentage of published theses (36.4%). Theses with case-control (aPR: 2.74; CI 95%: 1.07-7.01; p = 0.036) and cohort (aPR: 3.51; CI 95%: 2.02-6.11; p < 0.001) methodological design had a higher frequency of publication; on the contrary, those executed in the community were less frequently published (aPR: 0.39; CI 95%: 0.17-0.93; p = 0.033), as well as, those with two researchers (aPR: 0.41; CI 95%: 0.18-0.92; p = 0.031), adjusted for two variables. Conclusion: Only one in twenty theses was published. Publication was associated with the type of methodological design, the place of execution and the number of researchers.