The title of the article is clear and entirely agrees with the purpose statement, which is of high relevance at the moment. The issue is researched in a segmented community; however, it is relevant to all people of this profession. The conclusion can be easily connected to the title, therefore, is similar to the title.
The full abstract of the paper has 232 words, which is a concise and acceptable word count, including purpose, methods of research, and a conclusion.
When talking about the authors, there is no indication of each writer’s degree; though, it mentions that they all are from the Department of Periodontics and Community Dentistry.
Next objective is the introduction, in which the authors start with the problem statement and its relevance. Moreover, they included the definition of the disease, providing enough information for the reader. Introduction fully elaborated on why it is vital to increase social awareness about covid-19, which is an important point to show the article’s purpose. However, the most crucial part of explaining its relevance to dental professionals could be more extensive, in my opinion.
The study aimed to determine how aware the dental students at King Saud University are regarding their high exposure to the coronavirus.
Moving to the materials and methods, the study included approximately 400 participants, all undergraduate and postgraduate dental students and interns of the researched university, which were specifically selected.
The researchers used a cross-sectional survey for the study. The mentioned power of the sample was 0.85.
The survey fill-put lasted for three weeks, from March 10 to April 1, and was conducted full online by e-mailing the forms and placing them on social media.
The tool used for the study is a modified questionnaire based on the survey by other researchers, following the CDC guidelines on evaluating the awareness of airborne isolation precautions among dental specialists.
The results were calculated using Kolmogorov–Smirnov, and Shapiro–Wilks tests for determining the normality of data distribution. Besides, SPSS statistics version 21 was applied to analyze the responses. The variables were calculated through an additional method of applying inferential statistics of the Kruskal Wallis tests and Mann–Whitney U-test, at a statistically significant P-value of <0.05.
The discussion section of the research was comprehensively presented, evaluating each result. The outcomes were compared to the psychological factors, including the limitations that were faced. The discussion was structured as a point-by-point organization, elaborating on specific details on each finding. Moreover, it included the reasoning about governmental health guidelines and their correlation with the people’s awareness, which was a reasonable parallel to the study’s findings.
The aims and objectives were all answered in a sufficient and satisfactory form, covering all the desired points for limitations.
The conclusion briefly covered the findings, concisely stating the issue that was researched. The study found an adequate level of awareness regarding the covid-19; however, it discovered room for improvement for increasing the health state of the students. In addition, the authors provided recommendations for further implementation to enhance the student’s awareness regarding the topic.
The acknowledgment section of the research includes gratitude to the associated personnel who helped the authors conduct this study. Furthermore, the study was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University and did not meet any conflict of interest.
Coming to the references, there are no evident repetitive authors; all citations used are written by different scholars. However, there is two article by the World Health Organization – a single example of repetition.
None of the study authors mention themselves in the citation or literature mentioned in the article. The reference style used in this article is the American Medical Association.
The article was received by the press on July 6, 2020, accepted for publication on September 18, 2020, and published on October 29, 2020.
Overall critique: after comprehensively looking into the article, I cannot say that it is in-depth research with complicated variables. Nevertheless, it is engaging statistical data that is useful for the specific population sample, reflecting the state of health awareness among the students. In my opinion, the method of determining the level of knowledge regarding the topic could be elaborated more, as the usage of online fill-out forms cannot be considered an accurate source of data collection. A one-on-one interview would be more informative, showing a better picture of student awareness.
The significance of the article to the medical community is insignificant, only outlining a problem in a smaller community. Thus, if the sample size used would be more expansive, for instance, students of various universities in different countries, then it could show a more statistically valuable picture. Another downside is that the researchers used a pre-written questionnaire with modifications, which, personally, seemed slightly inappropriate. Therefore, the overall quality of the article was satisfactory; thus, various factors lower its quality and make it relevant to a small segment of the audience, subsequently lowering its chances to be recognized across the industry.