Critical study of pathology theses supported at the medical university of Tunis (2000-2010).

Background: Medical writing is a coded language; its purpose is to convey a scientific message. In pathology, specialty involving the study of cell and tissue, quantitative and qualitative production of medical doctoral theses and their thematic focus has not been studied. The aim of this study was to analyze the pathology theses on the level of form, the background and methodology.

Methods: Descriptive retrospective study of medical doctoral theses in the specialty "Pathology", listed in the catalog of theses of the library of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis and supported between 2000 and 2010. Each thesis has been subject of a direct reading, systematic and thorough.

Results: The study involved 189 pathology theses. The average overall productivity per academic pathologist was 5.5 theses. Gastrointestinal pathology was the most studied theme (24.9%). Tumor pathology was addressed in 74.1% of the theses. The IMRAD structure was respected in 57.7% of theses; by assistant professor than by associate professor and professor (p = 0.005). The summary was structured in 88.3% of theses, comparably with the grade of the thesis director (p = 0.5) and with the grade of PhD student (p = 0.08). The transcript of references did not meet the recommendations of Vancouver in 87.8% of theses and irrespective of the rank of director of thesis (p = 0.2).

Conclusion: The pathology theses presented some shortcomings, particularly in the quality of medical writing. To remedy this problem, our faculty should increase efforts to improve the quality of scientific work, in order to have a better view of medical research in Tunisia.