Abstract:

Objective To explore the practical role and application effectiveness of online journal clubs (OJC) in cultivating postgraduates' scientific research capabilities, and to provide empirical reference for optimizing their scientific research training models. Methods A self-designed questionnaire was conducted among 46 neurobiology postgraduates participating in OJC. Paired samples t-tests were used to analyze differences in research-related capabilities before and after OJC participation, while descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the basic characteristics of respondents and their overall evaluation of OJC. Results After participating in OJC, postgraduates showed significant improvements in literature presentation ability, research project execution ability, English reading ability, awareness of research ethics, and evidence-based medicine awareness (all P < 0.001). However, no statistically significant improvement was observed in their English expression and writing abilities (P = 0.160, 0.660, respectively). Overall evaluation results showed that 91.30% of respondents held "strongly agree" or "basically agree" attitudes towards their willingness to participate in OJC, positive participation attitude, and demand for continued organization of OJC, while 86.96% of respondents acknowledged the benefits from OJC and chose "strongly agree" or "basically agree". No respondents selected "basically disagree" or "strongly disagree".

Conclusion OJC demonstrates remarkable effectiveness in improving postgraduates' core scientific research capabilities and literacy, and can serve as an effective supplementary form for postgraduate scientific research training. In the future, the training effectiveness can be further enhanced by optimizing the design related to English application.