In Denmark, medical students can apply for an optional, one-year, pre-graduate research programme. The programme has existed for 25 years. However, little is known about the main quantitative outcomes; namely scientific publications and continuation to a PhD.-programme. Also, little is known about the distribution of students between the medical specialties, including psychiatry.

We included all medical students enrolled in the pre-graduate research programme (n=687) from 2003-2012 at Aarhus University, Denmark. We made a systematic literature search on the publications of a sub-group of the students (n=227). Students were characterized in terms of age, sex, and years of medical school completed at the time of embarking the programme. Students affiliated with psychiatric departments (n=12) were characterized and compared with their peers.

All together the 227 students published 224 papers. Of these, 90% were original articles and 43% had a student as first author. Fifty-two percent published ≥1 papers. Twelve out of 687 students (2%) were enrolled at a psychiatric department. Of these, 1 student published 1 paper as second author and none continued in a PhD. Overall, publication was associated with (i) fast completion of the programme, (ii) having a male main supervisor and (iii) continuing to a PhD.

Scientific publishing and PhD.-recruitment was associated with fast completion and early enrolment in the pre-graduate research programme. A relatively low proportion of students were affiliated with psychiatric departments.