Abstract: Objective  In the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, the cognition of medical undergraduates in a medical university on scientific research, their willingness to participate in scientific research and the status quo of their participation in it were investigated, so as to provide reference for the scientific research practice ability of medical undergraduates and the training of medical compound talents in universities.Methods  Anonymous method and stratified cluster sampling survey were adopted, and  students from the third, fourth, fifth grade and undergraduate of 12 majors in a medical college were investigated. Results  95.79% of the students were willing to participate in scientific research activities; 96.84% of the students thought that participating in scientific research activities was helpful to their study and work; 64.47% of the students thought that they should properly cultivate their scientific research ability while learning basic courses. Students who did not participate in scientific research mainly did not know the relevant information and channels of participation in scientific research activities, accounting for 65.38%. Students participating in scientific research, such as the Challenge Cup, accounted for 24.47%. Conclusion  The undergraduates of medically related majors in the medical college have a strong willingness and cognitive level to participate in scientific research. However, due to the lack of scientific research participation information and channels and scientific research conditions, more than half of the students did not participate in scientific research. Therefore, colleges and universities should strengthen the publicity of scientific research activities, increase the investment in such activities, and attract more students to participate in scientific research practice.

Key words: COVID-19 epidemic situation, undergraduate, scientific research practice, knowing-believing-doing