Dissertation

Code:

MI630

Acronym:

DISSERT

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2024/2025 - A

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Community Medicine, Information and Health Decision Sciences
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIMED	263	Plano Oficial 2021	6	-	10	162	270

Teaching language

Portuguese and english
Obs.: A dissertação poderá ser escrita em português ou em inglês.

Objectives

This curricular unit, based on specific knowledge and / or acquired over the Integrated Master Medicine Course, aims to give specific skills to develop a research project in an area of interest. 

 

Learning outcomes and competences

At the end of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Review concepts about science and the scientific method
2. Recognize the main areas of biomedical research: laboratory, clinical and in health services and translational
3. Search for and use scientific information, by using information technology
4. Identify the main methodologic issues of different study designs 
5. Collect, process and analyze data, using basic biostatistics concepts
6. Develop the ability for analysis and synthesis
7. Develop critical thinking and creativity while approaching the themes
8. Develop skills for scientific writing and presentation of scientific results
9. Demonstrate effective understanding of scientific integrity
10. Recognize scientific misconduct and fraud
11. Prepare a public presentation
12. Develop presentation skills in public speaking
13. Develop interpersonal skills with the Supervisor and Co-supervisor

Working method

B-learning

Program

The CU seminars discuss concepts of:
1. Critical Thinking. Scientific misconduct and fraud.
2. Search for and use of scientific information, definition of a research question, study design types, use of secondary data in health research.
3. Sampling methods, sample size calculation, data collection instruments, planning data collection
4. Ethical and legal aspects of clinical research: study submission to the Ethics Committee and to the responsible for data access, data privacy and security.
5. Systematic reviews and metanalysis.
6. Translational research T1 and T2.
7. Variables, descriptive statistics, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing
8. Statistical modeling: linear and logistic regression, survival analysis
9 Interpretation and presentation of results.
10. Writing of an original scientific paper, peer review and editorial process.
11. Writing a dissertation; oral presentation of scientific results.

The student has to organize an individual work program, to be coordinated by the Supervisor with the support of the Co-Supervisors (optional). The completion and public discussion of the project may follow the following types:

- Dissertation: original research that includes gathering and analysis of primary or secondary data (including systematic reviews) that produces scientific knowledge. This type may apply to quantitative or qualitative research.

-Monograph: written work on a specific subject without systematic gathering and analysis of data such as non-systematic reviews or case reports.

The dissertation ou monograph should be produced following international recommendations as to the structure and writing of the study design.

Mandatory literature

Liberati A, Altman DG, Tetzlaff J, et al. ; The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: explanation and elaboration, Annals of internal medicine 151:W-65-W-94., 2009
Vandenbroucke JP, Von Elm E, Altman DG, et al; Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE): explanation and elaboration, PLoS medicine 4:e297, 2007
Universidade do Porto; Carta de Direitos e deveres da comunidade académica da Universidade do Porto
Martinson BC, Anderson MS, de Vries R ; Scientists behaving badly. , Nature 435:737–8., 2005
Jacinto T, Morais A, Fonseca JA; How to write a scientific paper - Searching and Managing Biomedical information, Rev Port Pneumol. 2011;17(4):190-194, 2011
Stephen B. Hulley, Steven R. Cummings, Warren S. Browner, Deborah Grady Norman Hearst, Thomas B. Newman; Designing Clinical Research, 4th edition, Williams and Wilkins, 2013
Petrie A, Sabin C; Medical Statistics at a Glance, Blackwell Science Inc, 2005
Wasserstein RL et al. ; . ASA Statement on Statistical Significance and p-values, The American Statistician, 2016
Grant R. ; Data Visualization: Charts, Maps and Interactive Graphics, American Statistical Association/CRC Press, 2019
Azevedo LF, Canário-Almeida F, Fonseca JA, Costa-Pereira A, Winck JC, Hespanhol V; How to write a scientific paper – writing the methods section, Rev Port Pneumol, 2011;17(5):232-238, 2011

Complementary Bibliography

Higgins JPT, Green S. ; Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Version 5.1.0 , Cochrane , 2011
Sousa-Pinto B, Azevedo LF; Avaliação crítica de uma revisão sistemática e meta-análise, Rev Soc Port Anestesiol, 2019
Wasserstein RL et al. ; Moving to a World Beyond “p < 0.05”, The American Statistician, 2019

Teaching methods and learning activities

The student work has an individual character. Planning, contextualization, and development of the research project should be monitored by a supervisor chosen by the student.

Training in complementary skills is achieved through thematic seminars, available online, organized throughout the academic year.

Students’ guidance is provided through institutional email and Moodle platform and in-person support on a fixed schedule or whenever requested.

 

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Defesa pública de dissertação, de relatório de projeto ou estágio, ou de tese	35,00
Trabalho escrito	45,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	20,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de projeto	50,00
Frequência das aulas	22,00
Trabalho de campo	30,00
Trabalho de investigação	30,00
Trabalho escrito	30,00
Estudo autónomo	108,00
Total:	270,00

Eligibility for exams

Attending the seminars, writing the project and public presentation and discussion of results are mandatory. Publication of a scientific paper as a first or second author from this work and participation in a scientific project and team will be taken into account in the evaluation.

Calculation formula of final grade

The final classification depends on the type of work.

1) For dissertations:

• Written project report: 52,5% (105 points)


• Public presentation and discussion: 35% (70 points)


• Scientific publication (accepted paper) as 1st or 2nd author and with a publication date within the previous two years: 12.5%* (25 points)

* Maximum score corresponds to publication (or acceptance for publication) in a Web of Science-indexed journal with impact factor ranked on the three first quartiles of its technical-scientific area (25 points).
Publication in a Web of Science-indexed journal with impact factor ranked on the fourth quartile of its technical-scientific area will be awarded 20 points.
Publications in Scopus, MEDLINE/PubMed- or Web of Science-indexed journals with no impact factor quartile will be awarded 15 points.
Publication in non-predatory journal not indexed in Web of Science, Scopus or MEDLINE  OR Presentations in conferences or meetings will be awarded 5 points.

The following situations can also be scored:

• Manuscripts sent to peer-review and for which there is an editorial decision (following reviewers' comments) of requesting revision and resubmission:




• Web of Science-indexed journals with impact factor quartile: 15 points.


• Scopus, MEDLINE/PubMed or Web of Science-indexed journals without impact factor quartile: 10 points.




• Manuscripts sent to peer-review and for which (i) there is no editorial decision, (ii) there is an editorial decision of rejection:

• Web of Science-indexed journals with impact factor quartile: 7.5 points.


• Scopus, MEDLINE/PubMed or Web of Science-indexed journals without impact factor quartile: 5 points.

Other publications or presentations nor described will receive no points.


2) For monographs:

• Written project report: 45% (90 points)


• Public presentation and discussion: 35% (70 points)


• Scientific publication (or accepted paper) as 1st or 2nd author and with a publication date within the previous two years: 20%* (40 points)

** Maximum score corresponds to publication (or acceptance for publication) in a Web of Science-indexed journal with impact factor ranked on the two first quartiles of its technical-scientific area (40 points).
Publication in a Web of Science-indexed journal with impact factor ranked on the third and fourth quartiles of its technical-scientific area will be awarded 25 points.
Publications in Scopus, MEDLINE/PubMed- or Web of Science-indexed journals with no impact factor quartile will be awardedque 15 points.
Presentations in conferences or meetings will be awarded 5 points.

The following situations can also be scored:

• Manuscripts sent to peer-review and for which there is an editorial decision (following reviewers' comments) of requesting revision and resubmission:




• Web of Science-indexed journals with impact factor quartile: 10 points.


• Scopus, MEDLINE/PubMed or Web of Science-indexed journals without impact factor quartile: 7.5 points.




• Manuscripts sent to peer-review and for which (i) there is no editorial decision, (ii) there is an editorial decision of rejection:

• Web of Science-indexed journals with impact factor quartile: 5 points.


• Scopus, MEDLINE/PubMed or Web of Science-indexed journals without impact factor quartile: 2.5 points.

Other publications or presentations nor described will receive no points.

Classification improvement

Not applicable

Observations

Email: jfonseca@med.up.pt