Background: Training in the principles and methods of scientific inquiry constitutes a fundamental pillar of undergraduate medical education. It is explicitly integrated into quality standards for medical school accreditation and into national competency frameworks describing the program objectives. It allows training students in the scientific facet of their future profession and provides early exposure to medical research, which encourages the recruitment of future doctors into academia.

Analysis: Despite this importance, the implementation of scientific competence training in undergraduate medical education remains imperfect and highly heterogeneous. Content, instructional strategies, and levels of exposure to research vary from one institution to another, with a predominant focus on critical analysis of scientific articles at the expense of many other aspects related to the scientific approach in medicine. Few concepts are addressed in a longitudinal and progressive manner, with theoretical teaching followed by practical application.

Conclusion: Existing teaching methods do not reflect the prescribed standards. The author proposes recommendations based on a narrative review and grounded in the theoretical principles of medical education to form guidelines for the development of a comprehensive, longitudinal and integrated training program dedicated to the principles and methods of scientific inquiry in medicine.