Retrospective Analysis of Psychiatry Specialization Theses Made Between 1981-2018 in Turkey

Objective: In this study, we aimed to qualitatively evaluate the views to the Psychiatry specilization theses, variables affecting publishing of these, and the relationship with the academic career of authors of these theses in Turkey. Method: Theses were searched from the website of Higher Education Board Presidency National Dissertations Center using the terms psychiatry, mental health and diseases. Only the theses with full texts were included in the study. The publications associated with these theses were searched using SCI and SCI-E, Google, Google Scholar and PubMed by using the names of authors and their advisors. Results: We were able to find 910 theses. 748 of the 910 were completed in universities. The overall publication rate of the theses was 37.7%. 19.2% were indexed in PubMed, 28.5% in SCI and SCI-E and 31.9% in Google Scholar. Publication of a thesis was significantly associated with the field of research, the title of the advisor and whether the owner of the thesis had later become a faculty member. Residents who were trained at universities were more likely to publish as a first author. Being first author was associated with later academic career. In addition, those who continued their career as an academic continued to publish on a similar subject more than those who did not. Conclusions: In this study, the type of the research, title of the advisor, enrolling an academic career were associated with the publication of the theses. We hope our results would help better publication of the theses in the future.