Citation analysis of medical student's thesis: Before and after accessing to national digital library of medicine

Introduction of Iranian National Medical Digital Library (INLM) has been a huge investment over recent years. The aim of the present study was to discover the effectiveness of this scientific intervention through examination of citation pattern among medical students'' theses during 2007-2010 (one year before and two years after access). This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in 2011 on 219 medical students theses، defended from April، 2007 to March 2010، at Babol University of Medical Sciences، and all subjects were included in the study using census method. In order to collect data، a copy of reference section of the theses available in the university main library was provided. Bibliographical information of citations was recorded according to the type of resource، language and time of publication in the data collection sheets. Data was analyzed using SPSS 16 statistical software، ANOVA and independent T-test. The resources used and cited by students were 10916 citations out of the total 219 theses. The mean number of resources used in the medical students'' theses had an increase during 2007 to 2010. The rate of whole resources use as well as the number of journals used in the theses from 2007 to 2010 had a significant statistical difference (p<0. 05). The increased mean number of used resources، increased portion of journals and addition of the English references to the medical theses during the mentioned period indicates the positive effect of the exploitation of the INLM on the medical students'' citation behavior.