Introduction:

Medical students' scientific societies are organizations that promote activities focused on research and other areas such as medical education and comprehensive health care.

Objective:

To determinate the medical students' scientific societies importance in Latin America.

Method:

Observational and descriptive cross-sectional design with non-probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases between january and july 2017. A self-administered survey was applied, the sample was 430 subjects aged 16 to 34 from 14 Latin American countries, considered for an infinite population size an expected proportion of 50%, an accuracy of 5 and a 95% confidence level.

Results:

Of 430 medical students from Latin America, 254 (59.9%) were women and 176 (40.1%) were men. 426 (99.1%) students consider training in research important, 421 of them (97.9%) consider scientific publication important as students. Of the university training received, 290 (67.4%) students consider that they do not receive sufficient training on research and publications. As for the tools provided by the scientific societies, 320 (74.4%) consider that it receives the necessary tools for a sufficient scientific formation. 173 (40.2%) students stated that they belong to a scientific society and 88 (20.5%) of them have published an article in scientific journals. 139 (32.3%) were initiated in the research with their scientific society and 89 (20.7%) with a research group and researcher.

Conclusions:

The role of medical students' scientific societies in Latin America as an engine for growth and promotion of scientific research is undeniable. Greater support and encouragement from universities is needed to accompany and ensure the quality of that growth.