Examining the Effect of Research Engagement on the Interest in Integrating Research into Future Career Paths Among Medical Graduates in China: An Instrumental Variable Analysis

Background: While the importance of physician research has been underscored, a shortage of qualified physicians engaged in research persists. Early exposure to research could potentially ignite medical students’ interest in research, thereby motivating them to pursue research-related careers. Objective: The study aims to examine early research engagement and medical graduates’ interest in incorporating research into their future career paths. Methods: This was a national cross-sectional survey administered in 2020, with 152,624 medical students from 119 medical schools in China completing it. We selected and resampled the graduates’ data, and the final sample included 17,451 respondents graduating from 101 medical schools. Results: For graduates engaged in research, 63.4% (3054) had the interest in integrating research into their future careers. Such interest in research did differ between medical graduates with and without research engagement by linear probability regression (β, 0.50; 95%CI, 0.48 to 0.52), but did not differ in instrumental variable regression analysis (β, 0.31; 95%CI, − 0.18 to 0.80). Furthermore, engaging in research significantly increased the top 50% of academically ranked graduates’ research interest in instrumental variable regression analysis (β, 0.44; 95%CI, 0.01 to 0.86). Conclusions: Contrary to expectations, research engagement does not necessarily enhance medical graduates’ interest in integrating research into their future careers. However, graduates with strong academic performance are more inclined to develop this research interest. In light of these findings, we propose recommendations for nurturing research interest within medical education.