1998-2-Editorial - Saudi Dental Journal

ISSN (Print) 1013-9052
EISSN 1658-3558

The Saudi Dental Journal,
P.O. Box 52500,
Riyadh 11563,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Tel.	966-1-467-7328
Fax.	933-1-467-7308 / 966-1-467-7534
Email	saudidj@ksu.edu.sa

Editorial

Are summaries and/or abstracts enough?

Today's flow of information is enormous and is provided through journals, books, newspapers and various IT media, including the Internet, and CD-ROM. Moreover, the accessibility of information has been simplified by a generous supply of abstracts and summaries, as well as review articles in journals and databases, for example the Medline. Given these ample opportunities for acquisition of new research findings from other sources, the role of the university library has been questioned and its existence threatened. However, it needs to be realized that libraries store and make available books, let alone the access they provide to databases and microfiche. Furthermore, they not only educate students on how to search for scientific information, but also organize such information and ensure that past efforts in research will be saved for study by future generations of students and scientists. In other words, the university library functions as the heart, which no academic institution can do without.

The literature gives the researcher the necessary background to scientific investigation. The prerequisite for collective and individual refinement of knowledge and proficiency requires students to read and learn from published research. For a proper understanding, however, the student must learn the discipline of critical reading. By limiting the reading of scientific literature to abstracts, summaries, and reviews, both superficial knowledge and dissemination of misunderstandings may result. It needs also to be recognized that review articles, although handy and necessary for summing up a research area, represent interpretations and, often, biases of the author(s). Therefore, all scientific reading requires a critical mind. Critical reading, in turn requires knowledge. Compare this with the case of a newspaper article on a given event. No doubt, the information does represent the reporter's interpretation of what actually took place. Had the reader been one of the observers at the event, he/she would have evaluated the accuracy of the written message better than if he/she had not been present.

An important aim of academic education must be to collate and present knowledge to our students, and in the process inculcate critical thinking. Tutors and teachers in academic institutions must therefore realize that their role is to be the coach for the students in the scientific arena, whereby they should know not only what we appear to know but also the limitations of our current knowledge base. Remember the old maxim, which has been proven over and over again: "What is true today is not necessarily true tomorrow." Future advances in dental education and research depend on our realization that scientific reading is an integral part of critical thinking.

Axel Bergenholtz, DDS, Board Cert O Surg, Board Cert Period, Dr. Odont