EN
Students at the Bratislava medical faculty interested in research can participate voluntarily in a student scientific activity (SSA). Currently, the scientific activity is measured by the quantity and quality of publications and these scientometric parameters are important for grant evaluations as well as for individual careers. In this study, we evaluate the publication successes of SSA papers presented at the SSA conference (SSAC) of Faculty of medicine in Bratislava during the last five years. Names of the first authors of works presented at the SSAC in 2000–2004 were searched in PubMed/Medline and in Thomson ISI Web of Science/Current Contents (CC) in January 2005. Only titles of full text publications (not abstracts) similar to those presented at the SSAC were counted and further analyzed. Publication points were counted according to the currently valid PhD credit system at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava. A total of 141 students scientific activity works were presented during a five-year period, with a total of 4 domestic non-CC, 11 foreign non-CC and 9 foreign CC publications, with cumulative impact factor 10,6 and total publication points of 641,2. Publication points gradually increased during the years 2000–2003. In conclusion, medical student research activity can significantly influence the publication output of our medical faculty and should, thus, be further supported. The SSA will probably gain even more importance after the introduction of a mandatory diploma thesis, moreover, if we take into account the increasing significance of evaluations based on scientometric parameters.