title: From idea to publication: Publication rates of theses in neurosurgery from Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Thesis at the end of residency is considered as the complementary component of postgraduate training. In this respect, thesis helps the residents learn how to ask structured questions, set up the most appropriate study design, conduct the study, retrieve study results and write conclusions with clinical implications. To the best of our knowledge, the publication rates of theses in the field of neurosurgery have not been reported before. Our aim was to find out publication rates of theses in neurosurgery specialty, in this descriptive study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The database of Higher Education Council of Turkey, which includes the theses of residents in only university hospitals, was screened between years 2004 and 2013. After retrieving the theses from the database; we used search engines to find out the theses published in any SCI/SCI-E-indexed journals. For this purpose, the title of the theses and the author names were used as keywords for searching. Data was presented in a descriptive form as absolute numbers and percentages.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We retrieved 164 theses written by former residents in neurosurgery using the database. Among 164 theses, 18% (national journals: 9; international journals: 21) were published in SCI/SCI-E indexed journals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Publication rates of theses in neurosurgery are low as they are in the other specialties of medicine. Our study is a descriptive research, to give an idea about publication rates of theses in neurosurgery. Further studies are required to understand the underlying factors, which are responsible for the limited success in publication of theses in neurosurgery.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Batman State Hospital, Batman, Turkey.
authors: Ahmet
authors: A
authors: Öğrenci
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Spine Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA. Electronic address: muratsakireksi@gmail.com.
authors: Murat Şakir
authors: MŞ
authors: Ekşi
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Spine Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors: Emel Ece
authors: EE
authors: Özcan-Ekşi
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Göztepe Medikal Park, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors: Orkun
authors: O
authors: Koban
mesh_terms: D004212:Academic Dissertations as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014421:Turkey
keywords: Indexing; Neurosurgery; Publication; Residency; Thesis