Abstract: Objective To analyze the entire-process training materials of master's degree students in clinical medicine and explore factors influencing the quality of their dissertations. Methods From April to July 2024, 41 independent variables were collected for 1 275 professional-degree master's students in clinical medicine enrolled at a teaching hospital affiliated to Zhengzhou University between 2019 and 2020. The variables covered personal information, supervisor information, student origin, academic performance, research experience, and employment status. Mann-Whitney U tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and Spearman correlation coefficients were used to examine the relationship between each variable and the dissertation score. Variables showing statistical significance were then entered into a multiple linear regression model to identify factors influencing the quality of the graduate dissertations. Results At the individual level, older age at enrollment (β=-0.040, P=0.031), majoring in surgery (β=-0.234, P=0.002), or in smaller-discipline majors such as neurology, emergency medicine, dermatology and venereology (β=-0.254, P<0.001) were all associated with lower-quality master's theses. At the advisor level, students supervised by advisors who were mentoring 3-4 (β=-0.194, P=0.007) or more than four (β=-0.579, P<0.001) current-year master's students produced significantly lower-quality theses, whereas advisors holding administrative positions (β=0.156, P=0.010) were linked to higher-quality theses compared with their non-administrative peers.In terms of training process, higher proposal-defense scores predicted better thesis quality (β=0.065, P=0.035). Regarding employment destinations, students with lower-quality theses were more likely to accept positions in hospitals (β=-0.150, P=0.036), whereas those with higher-quality theses preferred non-hospital units (β=0.185, P=0.021) or further study (β=0.178, P=0.032). Conclusions The quality of professional master's theses in clinical medicine is closely tied to every stage of training.Enhanced research supervision should be provided for late-entry students, those majoring in surgery, and those in smaller disciplines such as neurology, emergency medicine, dermatology and venereology. Paying attention to graduate students' future career intentions, limiting the number of advisees per supervisor, and placing greater emphasis on the thesis proposal defense are practical measures that can raise the overall quality of master's theses.

Key words: Clinical medicine, Professional master's degree students, Academic dissertations, Linear regression