Impact of a student scientific society on the development of research competencies

Introduction: Student scientific societies constitute learning communities that act as research seedbeds to form competencies in health sciences students. Objective: To evaluate the impact of a student scientific society on the development of research competencies of dental students during the period 2016-2020. Methods: An observational and longitudinal study was conducted to measure the research skills of students. The sample consisted of 20 students who participated throughout their undergraduate studies in the Scientific Society of Dentistry. The survey was used and the scale was used as a measurement instrument. The scores were analyzed by means of variance. Results: The research competencies in 2016 were 1.83 ± 0.81 and the highest value was reached by the male gender (1.91 ± 0.80; p > 0.05). In 2020 the average score was 3.36 ± 0.75. There were significant differences between the findings of 2016 and 2019 (p = 0.03) and those of 2016 and 2020 (p = 0.01). The dimension "qualitative research processes" did not stand out in any of the years evaluated. Conclusions: Research competencies in the members of the Scientific Society of Dental Students of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos improved during the period from 2016 to 2020.