Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate undergraduate dental students’ utilization of electronic scientific information resources and to identify the specific trends found among students at different years of study. A cross-sectional web survey of all undergraduate dental students in Riyadh Colleges of Dentistry and Pharmacy was conducted. Descriptive analysis was undertaken and differences between groups were examined using Chi-square test. A response rate of 40.5% (n = 740) was achieved. 44% of the respondents used Medline for study purpose and 47.8% for research. 56.1% used full-text journal articles online for both study and research purpose. Only 25.9% searched Medline at least 1 to 7 times/month for study purpose and 22.2% for research. 42% used full-text journal articles at least 1 to 7 times/month for both study and research purpose. Clinical students were more likely to use full-text journal articles for study and research and female students were more likely to use Medline for research (p < 0.05). A majority of the respondents were non-users of Medline. The use of Medline and full-text journal articles increased moderately toward the end of the study. Training dental students in effective information searching and including the use of full-text articles in the dental curriculum will increase the use of electronic scientific resources.

Key words: Medline, full-text articles, dental, students, electronic resources.