Vol. 8, Issue 4, Part A (2025)

Introduction: Medical Research is one of the basic pillars of medical education and clinical practice. Early exposure to medical research especially at undergraduate level helps in developing better understanding and realising its importance in medical field.

Oobjective: To evaluate undergraduate medical students for perception, knowledge and barriers towards medical research.

Methodology: In GMC, Jammu, a cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate MBBS students. Using Google forms (developed by Google LLC, Mountain view, CA) to create questionnaire in order to collect responses from eligible students in this web-based survey. Using a 5-point Likert scale, perceived barriers and perception towards medical research was assessed by close ended questions. A pilot study was conducted on 10 students before beginning the final study and these responses were excluded in the statistical analysis.

Results: 200 responses were obtained in all. 58.4% respondents were female. Majority (42.6%) of the responses were from the 2^nd year MBBS. 49% of the students strongly agree that medical research is valuable while 43.5% students agree that medical research is time consuming. 47% students wish to involve themselves in medical research. Lack of mentoring, guidance, and support were the main barriers perceived by most the students. The questionnaire eliciting knowledge, perception, and barriers towards medical research had Cronbach alpha values of 0.8, 0.72, and 0.46, respectively.

Conclusion: This study highlights students' interest in medical research and its perceived importance. Incorporating research training into the undergraduate curriculum is essential to enhance medical education and guide long-term career choices.