The number of non-human animals used in research has increased in line with advances in medical technology, although it has previously been shown that these experiments demonstrate poor human utility. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of animal studies on rats that were performed as part of medical doctors’ residency master’s theses prepared in Turkey between January 2006 and December 2015. The number of thesis-derived published papers from each year, as well as the subsequent citation rate of these papers, was determined. Results from 34% of the 656 analysed studies (226/656) were published as papers in PubMed-indexed journals. These 226 studies got 1803 subsequent citations in total. Citation counts were statistically significantly different in 2009 and 2010, as compared to 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Previous studies showed that the usual main objective for carrying out animal studies in Turkey was the preparation of a thesis or the furthering of an academic career (i.e. personal self-interest). In the current study, the publication rate and the number of subsequent citations of these thesis-derived papers were both low, and thus, the contribution of these animal studies to scientific progress is doubtful. It is recommended that institutional research ethics committees should be much more highly selective in approving the use of animals for the purposes of student thesis preparation.

中文翻译：

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土耳其有关大鼠动物实验的医学博士住院医师硕士论文发表及引文分析

研究中使用的非人类动物的数量随着医疗技术的进步而增加，尽管之前已经表明这些实验表明人类效用不佳。本研究旨在确定 2006 年 1 月至 2015 年 12 月期间在土耳其编写的医生住院医师硕士论文的一部分对大鼠进行的动物研究的有效性。这些论文的后续引用率是确定的。在 656 项分析的研究 (226/656) 中，34% 的结果作为论文发表在 PubMed 索引期刊上。这226项研究共获得1803次后续引用。与 2011 年、2013 年、2014 年和 2015 年相比，2009 年和 2010 年的引用计数在统计上有显着差异。以前的研究表明，在土耳其进行动物研究的通常主要目标是准备论文或促进学术生涯（即个人利益）。在目前的研究中，这些论文衍生论文的发表率和后续引用次数都较低，因此，这些动物研究对科学进步的贡献值得怀疑。建议机构研究伦理委员会在批准使用动物进行学生论文准备时应有更高的选择性。这些论文衍生论文的发表率和后续引用次数都较低，因此，这些动物研究对科学进步的贡献值得怀疑。建议机构研究伦理委员会在批准使用动物进行学生论文准备时应有更高的选择性。这些论文衍生论文的发表率和后续引用次数都较低，因此，这些动物研究对科学进步的贡献值得怀疑。建议机构研究伦理委员会在批准使用动物进行学生论文准备时应有更高的选择性。