Palestinian medical students report positive attitudes toward research but limited training and output

Medical students in Palestinian medical schools generally hold favorable attitudes toward research, but the available evidence points to gaps in what they actually know, how confident they feel, and how much they publish, according to a systematic review published in BMC Medical Education.

The review, led by Ahmad Rjoub and colleagues including Malik Zaben, set out to evaluate what the published literature says about undergraduate perceptions of research training among Palestinian medical students, covering research-related knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and scholarly dissemination. The authors note that research training in Palestinian medical schools typically begins in the pre-clinical years and consists mainly of mandatory courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, and research methodologies, but that formal evaluation of curricular training outcomes has remained insufficiently examined in Palestine’s resource-limited and geopolitically complex context.

Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, the team searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and ERIC for studies published between January 1, 2010, and June 14, 2026. They included original studies involving undergraduate medical students enrolled in Palestinian medical schools that reported empirical data on at least one of four outcomes: knowledge of research and evidence-based medicine, attitudes toward research and evidence-based medicine, research self-efficacy, or self-reported publication and dissemination experience. Study quality was appraised with the Appraisal Tool for Cross-Sectional Studies, and the certainty of evidence for each outcome domain was assessed using the GRADE framework.

The searches identified 50 records. After deduplication and screening, five reports representing four distinct cross-sectional studies were included, all published between 2024 and 2026. Sample sizes ranged from 425 to 709 medical students. The findings were organized across five predefined outcome domains: perceived inadequacy of curricular research training, insufficient knowledge of research and evidence-based medicine acquisition, positive attitudes toward research and evidence-based medicine, low research self-efficacy, and limited scholarly output.

Across these domains, the pattern was consistent. Students generally reported favorable attitudes toward research, while the included studies identified limited objective research knowledge, low self-reported research confidence, perceived limitations in curricular training, and publication or dissemination experience among only a minority of respondents. In other words, motivation appeared to outpace both knowledge and opportunity in the populations studied.

An important caveat accompanies these conclusions. The certainty of evidence was rated as very low across all five outcome domains, reflecting the limitations of the underlying studies. All four studies were cross-sectional in design, which means they captured a snapshot of perceptions and self-reports at single points in time rather than tracking students’ development over the course of their training. Self-reported measures of confidence and dissemination experience may also diverge from objectively assessed competence.

The review’s conclusion is deliberately measured. The authors state that the findings support considering and prospectively evaluating longitudinal, experiential research education and structured mentorship, rather than establishing the effectiveness of any specific curricular reform. This distinction matters: the review documents what students currently report about their training, but it does not test whether any particular educational intervention would improve outcomes.

For medical educators and researchers, the review maps a landscape in which interest in research is present but structural support appears limited, at least according to the studies published so far. The authors emphasize that evidence concerning undergraduate research education in Palestine remains limited and of very low certainty, and that the available studies identified publication or dissemination experience among a minority of respondents.

The authors’ call for prospective evaluation of longitudinal, experiential research education and structured mentorship signals where the field may go next, while the very low certainty rating underscores that more and better-designed studies will be needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about how research training should be delivered in Palestinian medical schools.

Subject of Research: Undergraduate medical research training in Palestinian medical schools

Article Title: Teaching research in undergraduate medical education in Palestine: a systematic review

Article References: Rjoub, A., Amer, S., Dumaidi, Y., Awad, H., & Zaben, M. (2026). Teaching research in undergraduate medical education in Palestine: a systematic review. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10622-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-10622-y

Keywords: medical education, Palestine, systematic review, research training, undergraduate medical students, research self-efficacy, evidence-based medicine, scholarly output, curriculum, GRADE, cross-sectional studies, BMC Medical Education