The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) is Mexico's largest and most prestigious university, with more than 360,000 students enrolled across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. As a leading centre of academic excellence and research in Latin America, UNAM plays a critical role in shaping healthcare education and scholarship across the region.
To strengthen its research pipeline and enhance clinical preparedness, UNAM integrates two BMJ Group resources across its Faculty of Medicine and digital library: Research to Publication (RtP) and BMJ Best Practice.
Building research capability and global visibility
The Faculty of Medicine uses RtP, an online research training programme developed by the University of California, San Francisco, to give faculty, early‑career researchers and students the skills and confidence to design robust studies and publish in international journals.
UNAM's recent follow‑up evaluation of 60 participants revealed that:
72% completed a research project or clinical study within a year of taking the course
35% published at least one article, with 20% becoming first‑time authors
97% rated the programme a valuable investment of time
87% reported greater interdepartmental collaboration
Strengthening faculty development and mentoring
The availability of Research to Publication (RtP) has strengthened mentoring and faculty development at UNAM. Faculty actively participated as mentors, guiding students' progress through one‑to‑one follow‑up and by using detailed participation reports. Instructors such as Dr Guillermo Delgado‑García and Professor José Luis Alaniz Arcos recognised the programme's academic value and recommended its formal incorporation into the curriculum. Most survey participants also reported feeling motivated to share the course content with colleagues and students, further embedding research skills across the university.
Research to Publication has also accelerated individual career trajectories. For example, before completing the course, María Guadalupe Miranda‑Novales had published 23 articles in 21 years and had been the lead author only once. After graduating from Research to Publication in 2019, she published nine articles in just two years, with a significant increase in publications in English and in high‑quality international journals.
Before completing the Research to Publication course, María Guadalupe Miranda Novales had published 23 articles in 21 years and had been the lead author only once. The course not only helped her publish more articles in less time but also increased the number of articles published in English and in high-quality international journals.
Likewise, Dr Huitzilihuitl Saucedo‑Orozco published six articles (three as lead author), citing improved confidence in peer review and journal selection. These successes are building a stronger research culture at UNAM and raising its international profile through increased publications and citations.
" I'm not publishing more papers; I'm publishing better papers. Better study designs, larger sample sizes, publishing in better journals, higher impact factors. Now I'm doing more solid, big studies."
Dr Huitzilihuitl Saucedo-Orozco, cardiologist, echocardiographer, and cardiopulmonary physiology specialist, National Institute of Cardiology, Mexico City
Strengthening clinical decision-making
Through UNAM's digital library, students and clinicians access BMJ Best Practice, an evidence‑based point‑of‑care tool. Faculty and students report using it during hospital rotations to check differential diagnoses, review therapeutic guidelines and validate diagnostic plans. Its integration into clinical seminars and continuing‑education programmes has enhanced critical thinking and reduced diagnostic uncertainty.
BMJ Best Practice is now deeply embedded in clinical education at UNAM. The tool is used frequently, averaging over 550 page views per day over the past two years. App usage is also higher than comparable institutions, and users spend most of their time engaging with the most actionable content, particularly around diagnosis and patient management. Interestingly, the most viewed topics closely align with Mexico's most prevalent health conditions, highlighting the tool's direct relevance to local clinical needs and its role in supporting safer, evidence‑based decision‑making.
One student described using BMJ Best Practice during an internal medicine rotation to confirm the appropriate management of a pulmonary embolism before presenting the plan to the supervising superior, an example of how access to reliable evidence strengthens clinical decision-making and confidence in practice.
