Introduction:

Student scientific societies (SSS) are learning communities where students form their research competencies.

Objective:

To elaborate a contextualized profile of the characteristics of the student scientific societies (SSS) in the existing health sciences programs in Peru.

Method:

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was designed using documentary analysis and a survey. The population was all existing SSSs in Peru until December 2020, explored through their social networks and surveys of their leaders. The categories used for the study of the SSSs were: conformation, institutional membership, visibility, trajectory and academic-scientific activities.

Results:

Of the 143 universities analyzed in Peru, 105 had at least one program related to Health Sciences, 32.4% (n=34) had at least one SSS; most of them were in state universities. Eleven universities presented more than one SSS, so a total of 52 SSSs were registered, 71.2% (n=37) in the Human Medicine program. The founding period of the SSSs ranged from 1991 to 2020. Their main activities included: teaching courses on scientific writing, publication of articles, participation in competitions, workshops and seminars related to research methodology.

Conclusions:

The contextualized profile of the SSSs allows documenting the presence of research seedbeds for more than 30 years in Peru; these are found in approximately one third of the universities with at least one program in the health sciences, being an experience mostly developed in state universities.