Intellectual Property and Reference Managers: Knowledge, Perceptions, and Experiences in Health Science Students

The objective of the study is to determine the basic knowledge of intellectual property, as well as the perceptions and use of reference managers among health sciences students. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with students of dentistry, medicine, bacteriology, nursing, and surgical instrumentation. The results showed that respondents struggle to identify basic aspects of intellectual property, and only a portion of them include bibliographic references in written assignments, which puts them at high risk of committing plagiarism. Using reference managers is infrequent among students, mainly because they are unaware of these digital tools, have not received training, or believe that learning to use them requires too much time. Respondents agree that they would like to receive training for using these tools. It is concluded that students showed deficiencies in the fundamentals of intellectual property and the need for reference management training.