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Challenges and Barriers Toward Medical Research Among Medical and Dental Students at King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

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Alsaleem, Safar Abadi, Alkhairi, Muhammed Alhussain Y., Alzahrani, Mohammed Atiah A., Alwadai, Mohammed Ibrahim, Alqahtani, Saad Saleh A., Alaseri, Yahya Faye Y., Alqarni, Mohammed Awadh M., Assiri, Safiah Ahmad +2 more·2021·Frontiers in Public Health
DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2021.706778PMC PMC8417604
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Abstract

Background:Medical research is a systematic method to obtain new knowledge, reduce diagnosis problems, discover the latest or best treatment for a disease, and also used for disease prevention. Objective:The study aims to assess the challenges and barriers to conduct medical research among medical and dentistry students and determine the reasons that hinder the conduct of the study. Methods:In this cross-sectional study, the research population consisted of medical and dental students affiliated with King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia in 2020. The study followed a descriptive approach based on quantitative analysis. The Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS) program (V. 16.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used for data analysis. Results:A total of 327 students participated in this study, and the response rate was 100%. Among them, 61.5% were females. In this study majority (63.3%) had a moderate attitude toward conducting medical research and the average was 56.17. The majority (53.8%) had a reasonable behavior toward conducting medical research, and the average was 29.06. Lack of time, skills, funding, facilities, and limited access to medical journals and related databases were the significant barriers found. Most of the students had positive attitudes, except that they are not awarded on their research, do not attend the sessions, and do not speak their thoughts. A significant relationship between demographic characteristics (age, level, and Grade Percentage Average), attitudes & perceived barriers toward research was found (<0.05). Conclusion:The majority of the students demonstrated a positive attitude toward and moderate behavior of research. However, most are not awarded on their research, do not attend the sessions, and do not speak their thoughts. Intensive training and adequate support in research activities of medical and dental students at the undergraduate level may help reduce these challenges and barriers toward research.

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  • Alsaleem SA et al. reported that 65.7% of respondents cited a lack of motivation or rewards as barriers to meaningful research participation.

    “Similarly, Alsaleem SA et al., reported that 65.7% of respondents cited a lack of motivation or rewards as barriers to meaningful research participation (24).”

    From Research Publication Challenges Faced by Dentists in India: A Narrative Review of Multilevel Barriers (2026) · cites this paper as [24]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says that lack of reward or motivation was a barrier in this study. It does not give the claimed 65.7%; the Results’ Table 4 (page unavailable) reports 45.9% answering no to whether they had been awarded for their research, which is a different measure. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Alsaleem SA et al. reported that 74% of respondents lacked adequate skills in statistical methods.

    “while Alsaleem SA et al., reported that 74% of respondents lacked adequate skills in statistical methods, highlighting a widespread deficiency in statistical competence among academics (24).”

    From Research Publication Challenges Faced by Dentists in India: A Narrative Review of Multilevel Barriers (2026) · cites this paper as [24]

  • The literature rarely included detailed qualitative methodology to understand the details and contexts of student research obstacles.

    “Second, the literature in this area rarely included detailed qualitative methodology, which is vital if we are to understand the details and contexts of student research obstacles.”

    From Barriers faced by undergraduate dental students when conducting research: a qualitative study (2025) · cites this paper as [14]

    The Introduction discusses prior research on student barriers but does not assess how often that literature used detailed qualitative methods. The Materials and Methods (Instrument) section describes qualitative interviews used to check the questionnaire’s face validity, not to establish that qualitative studies of obstacles were rare. No page numbers were available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.75)

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Authors
Alsaleem, S. A., Alkhairi, M. A. Y., Alzahrani, M. A. A., Alwadai, M. I., Alqahtani, S. S. A., Alaseri, Y. F. Y., Alqarni, M. A. M., Assiri, S. A., Alsaleem, M. A., & Mahmood, S. E.
Affiliations
King Khalid University (SA)
Corresponding author
Mahmood, Syed Esam
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Public Health
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2021-08-20
Volume
9
Pages
706778-706778
ISSN
2296-2565 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpubh.2021.706778
PMC
PMC8417604
OpenAlex
W3195556027
Cited by
48
References
37
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1
FWCI
6.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health and Medical Research Impacts
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Sciences Research and Education
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
Keywords
medical research, barriers to research, attitudes toward research, research behavior, medical students, dental students, undergraduate research, underfunding, research training, King Khalid University
MeSH terms
Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Saudi Arabia, Students, Dental, Universities, Biomedical Research

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