Research in medical school

The email arrives in the class group chat: a professor is looking for students for a project on hospital infections. Half the class gets excited, the other half does not know what a research project is. Whoever answers first gets the spot, but discovers weeks later that they do not know where to start, how long it will take, or what is expected of a second-year student.

NEXO is a daily medical diagnosis game: one clinical case a day, six progressive clues, and ICD-10 proximity feedback across five levels.

Undergraduate research is the gateway to research during medical school. Well run, it teaches you to ask questions, to handle data and to read the literature with new eyes. Poorly run, it becomes repetitive work with no learning. This guide explains what undergraduate research is, what studies show about its results, how to choose an advisor and a project, how to balance research with the course, and which pitfalls to avoid.

Key points

• Undergraduate research is the student's supervised participation in a research project, with or without a scholarship.
• In a Dutch follow-up of ten cohorts, just over a quarter of the mandatory research projects became a publication.
• Projects in academic centers, extended projects, or clinical and laboratory research were more likely to be published.
• Taking part in research during the course and having a physician-researcher role model were associated with the intention to pursue a research career.
• The experience works as a space to test a researcher identity without an early commitment.

What undergraduate research is

A practical definition

Undergraduate research is the participation of an undergraduate student in a research project, under the supervision of an advisor. In Brazil, the term includes scholarship programs run by funding agencies and by the universities themselves, and volunteer projects, without a scholarship, which follow the same logic of supervision and report submission.

What defines undergraduate research is not the scholarship but the learning: the student must understand the project's question, take part in real stages of the research and produce some result, such as an abstract, a poster, a report or an article.

A Brazilian account

An essay by a student at the USP School of Medicine described undergraduate research as an activity that develops logical and critical thinking, encourages a commitment to lifelong learning and supports the training of new scientists (Martinho, 2005). The text is a personal account, without comparative data, but it sums up well what students usually seek in the experience.

Undergraduate research, community outreach and the final paper

Undergraduate research produces new knowledge with method. Community outreach works with the community, and the final course paper, when it exists, is a curricular requirement with a fixed deadline. The three can overlap: an outreach project can generate a research question, and well-run undergraduate research can become the final paper. Community outreach has its own guide in this series.

Types of research open to students

• Observational clinical research: chart review, cross-sectional studies with questionnaires, service cohorts.
• Laboratory research: experiments with cells, animals or biological samples, with a stricter schedule.
• Literature reviews: narrative, scoping and systematic reviews, which teach article search and reading.
• Medical education research: studies on teaching methods, assessment and student well-being.
• Public health research: analysis of public databases, such as the national health information systems.

What the studies show

How many projects become publications

A Dutch study followed ten cohorts of students who did mandatory research projects between 2008 and 2018, with 2,329 participants (den Bakker et al., 2022). In total, 27.7% of the projects resulted in a publication, with students mainly as first or second authors and citation impact above the world average (den Bakker et al., 2022).

The number shows two things. Publishing is possible for students, and not rare. At the same time, most projects do not become an article, and that is normal: the learning comes from the process, even when the result does not reach a journal.

What increases the chance of publishing

In the same study, publication was more frequent when the research took place at an academic center, when the student extended the project, when the student took part in an excellence track and when the research was clinical or laboratory-based (den Bakker et al., 2022). As newly graduated doctors, those who had published presented results at conferences and in journals more often (den Bakker et al., 2022).

For those choosing a project, the message is practical: groups with a research structure, enough time and well-defined questions increase the chance that the work reaches the end.

Intention to pursue a career in research

A study with 1,136 first-year students at 134 American medical schools found an intention to pursue a career in research in 26.9% of them (Hajduk et al., 2026). After enrolling, taking part in research and having a physician-researcher role model were associated with this intention (Hajduk et al., 2026).

The design is cross-sectional, so it is not known whether research awakens the intention or whether those who already have the intention seek out research. The data nonetheless reinforces the weight of role models: spending time with people who do research and see patients shows that both fit in the same career.

A space to try things out

A qualitative study with 12 preclinical students in an extracurricular research program in the Netherlands described the experience as a space to test professional identity (da Silva et al., 2026). Day-to-day participation dispelled the idea that research is reserved for a few, and the experience mattered more when students took part for real, were supported and recognized by the team and could explore the future without committing early (da Silva et al., 2026).

This idea helps take the weight off the choice: doing undergraduate research does not oblige anyone to become a researcher. It is a way of finding out whether research suits you.

How to choose an advisor and a project

The advisor matters more than the topic

A fascinating topic with an absent advisor usually yields little. A modest topic with a present advisor, who meets regularly, explains the purpose of tasks and gives feedback on what you write, teaches a lot. Before accepting, talk to students who have already worked with the group.

Mentoring can also happen in a group. A systematic review found 20 studies on 17 group mentoring programs for medical students in seven countries, most with a simple design, and even so the evaluations were very favorable to group mentoring (Skjevik et al., 2020). The programs worked best when they were longitudinal, with regular meetings and room for discussion and reflection (Skjevik et al., 2020). Research groups that bring several students together around one advisor can use this format to everyone's benefit.

Questions to ask in the first conversation

• What is the project's question and what stage is it at?
• What would I do in the first weeks and in the coming months?
• How often do meetings happen and who follows the day-to-day work?
• Does the project already have approval from the ethics committee, when required?
• Is there a planned output, such as a conference abstract or an article, and what would my role in authorship be?
• How much time per week does the group expect from a student?

Warning signs

Be wary of projects without a clear question, of groups where students only enter data without knowing why and of promises of authorship without real participation. It is also a warning sign when no one mentions an ethics committee in a project with patient data.

Publication ethics

In a survey of 592 students at four medical schools in Pakistan, 79% had already heard of publication ethics, but only 10.8% knew the ICMJE authorship criteria and 9% knew COPE, the international committee on publication ethics (Mubeen et al., 2017). The authors found gaps in knowledge about data fabrication, plagiarism, ghost authorship and the artificial division of one study into several articles (Mubeen et al., 2017). Knowing these rules from the very first initiation protects the student and the group.

Match it to the stage of the course

In the basic cycle, literature reviews and projects with public databases are good starting points, because they require little clinical knowledge. From the middle of the course onward, clinical research makes better use of what you already know. In the internship, time is short, and it is worth finishing projects already underway instead of starting new ones.

The stages of a project

From question to protocol

Every project starts with a question. It needs to be specific, relevant and answerable with the available resources. Then come the literature review, the definition of the study design, the choice of variables and the analysis strategy. Together these form the protocol, which in studies with people goes through the ethics committee before data collection.

Searching for and reading articles

Knowing how to search for and read articles is the most transferable skill of scientific initiation. It serves research, study and, later, clinical practice. Critical reading of articles has its own guide in this series.

Data collection and organization

Collection is the longest and least glamorous part. Well-organized spreadsheets, with a variable dictionary and a record of decisions, prevent rework and errors. Ask your advisor for a template before you start.

Analysis and writing

Statistical analysis usually falls to whoever has the most experience in the group, but it is worth following and understanding each step. Writing the abstract, the report and the article is where the student learns the most, because it requires explaining clearly what was done and why.

Dissemination

The result can go to a conference, to a journal or to both. Presenting at a conference and recording the output on your CV have their own guides in this series.

How to reconcile it with the course

The most common barriers

In a survey of 400 students at a health sciences university in Iran, the most cited personal barriers were insufficient knowledge of methodology and little skill in conducting research, and the most cited institutional barrier was limited access to information sources (Dadipoor et al., 2019). The authors suggest methodology workshops and better access to databases (Dadipoor et al., 2019). Asking your advisor for a list of methods readings and learning to use your university's journal portal resolves a good part of these barriers at the start.

Realistic time

Agree with your advisor on a number of weekly hours compatible with the semester and revise that agreement during exam weeks. Projects with defined stages and short deadlines are easier to fit in than open-ended tasks.

Research does not replace studying

Scientific initiation takes up the time that is left over, not the time for studying the subjects. If your grades or your sleep start to drop, it is time to reduce the project load. The guide on active learning helps you study better in less time.

One project at a time

Accumulating projects to pad your CV usually results in several unfinished papers. One completed project, with a concrete output, is worth more than three stalled halfway.

Insecurity is normal

Almost every student feels lost in the first research meetings: new terms, acronyms, statistics. The feeling passes with time and with questions. When it becomes the certainty that you should not be there, it is worth reading the guide on impostor syndrome in this series.

Research, reasoning and NEXO

Research and diagnostic reasoning share the same logic: forming hypotheses, seeking evidence and revising conclusions. In NEXO, the case of the day is fictional, with a real clinical presentation, and the diagnosis arrives in up to six clues. Proximity in ICD-10 across five levels shows how far each guess ended up, which makes every round a small exercise in hypothesis and revision. The guide on metacognition in medicine goes deeper into this way of looking at your own reasoning.

The guide what NEXO is explains the whole match, and the release of the modes is on the NEXO economy page.

Researchers in medical education, including groups with undergraduate research students, can propose studies through NEXO Researcher. If you coordinate a medical school, a student league or a residency program, get to know NEXO Closer. Physicians who review cases take part through NEXO Curator, and those who create health content on social media can take part through NEXO Creators.

Frequently asked questions

What is undergraduate research in Medicine?

It is the participation of an undergraduate student in a research project under supervision, with or without a scholarship.

Does undergraduate research lead to publication?

Sometimes. In a follow-up of ten cohorts in the Netherlands, 27.7% of the mandatory research projects resulted in publication (den Bakker et al., 2022).

When to start?

The right moment varies. In the basic cycle, reviews and public databases are good starting points; later on, clinical research makes better use of what you already know.

How to choose a supervisor?

By the presence and quality of the supervision, more than by the topic. Talk to students who have already worked with the group.

Do I need to want to be a researcher to do undergraduate research?

It is not required. The experience works as a space to test whether research suits you, with no early commitment (da Silva et al., 2026).

Does undergraduate research help your career?

Taking part in research and having a physician-researcher role model were associated with the intention to pursue a research career (Hajduk et al., 2026). The weight in residency selection varies by program.

Undergraduate research checklist

1. Choose the supervisor by the quality of the supervision.
2. Understand the question of the project before starting.
3. Agree on realistic weekly hours.
4. Check the ethics approval when there is data from people.
5. Organize the data from the first day.
6. Take part in writing the abstract and the article.
7. Finish one project before starting another.

Want to practice hypothesis and review in a few minutes? Play the case of the day on NEXO.

References

1. Martinho TP. Scientific initiation in medical education. Med Teach. 2005. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16147776/
2. den Bakker CR, Ommering BW, van Leeuwen TN, Dekker FW, De Beaufort AJ. Assessing publication rates from medical students' mandatory research projects in the Netherlands: a follow-up study of 10 cohorts of medical students. BMJ Open. 2022. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35379628/
3. Hajduk AM, O'Connell M, Aviles A, Herrin J, Nguyen M, Venkataraman S, et al. Longitudinal Evaluation of Research Career Intentions Among US Medical Students. JAMA Netw Open. 2026. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42118538/
4. da Silva ME, van der Goot WE, Verbeek DS, de Carvalho-Filho MA. Becoming a physician-scientist: Early research participation as an identity sandbox for preclinical medical students. Med Educ. 2026. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42805757/
5. Skjevik EP, Boudreau JD, Ringberg U, Schei E, Stenfors T, Kvernenes M, et al. Group mentorship for undergraduate medical students-a systematic review. Perspect Med Educ. 2020. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32820416/
6. Mubeen SM, Qurrat-ul-Ain, Ghayas R, Adil Rizvi SH, Khan SA. Knowledge of scientific misconduct in publication among medical students. Educ Health (Abingdon). 2017. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28928344/
7. Dadipoor S, Ramezankhani A, Aghamolaei T, Safari-Moradabadi A. Barriers to research activities as perceived by medical university students: A cross-sectional study. Avicenna J Med. 2019. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30697520/