Saudi Arabia is experiencing a transformative shift throughout all sectors of the nation. Education and healthcare are essential elements in the 2030 development plan. In alignment with Saudi Vision 2030, dental colleges are increasingly required to enhance their rankings by boosting research publications in high-impact international journals. Additionally, Saudi Vision 2030 emphasized how important research is to enhancing health systems (1–3). The research competencies for oral healthcare professionals at PSAU are ready for and in need of modernization. This modernization process cannot be done in seclusion but rather in collaboration between institutional goals and their need, to provide appropriately trained oral healthcare personnel able to compete in the international labor market.

The enhancement of research competencies among oral healthcare professionals involves a series of activities implemented by institutions to improve their skills in educational research. These activities can be a powerful tool in initiating and setting the direction for the modernization of institutional research plans (4–6). It fosters a favorable institutional environment and may involve fundamental research skills programs for junior staff as well as advanced programs for senior staff (7). A needs assessment is a planned way of gathering and analyzing data to identify the discrepancies between the current state and the desired state. Assessing the needs of oral healthcare professionals is a crucial endeavor of any university that believes in the value of people. Exploring researchers’ training needs guides decision-makers in addressing these requirements, thereby improving the research skills of participants and promoting a more conducive research environment (8–10).

Research experience is essential for evidence-based practice, as it develops skills in literature searching, data collection and analysis, and critical appraisal of evidence (11). Early training in research competencies has been linked to sustained professional academic engagement (12). Moreover, the utilization of international academic rankings has emerged as a prevalent and valuable method for comparing universities both domestically and globally (13). In 2012, a study in a public University in Malaysia reported that implementing a policy to motivate academic staff to enhance publishing output was successful, resulting in an increase in publications and an improvement in rankings from 2006 until February 14, 2011. Additionally, a review study analyzes research needs to identify key insights into the discipline. It has been reported that engaging stakeholders is advisable when carrying out surveys for learning needs assessment to prevent misinterpretations and ensure accurate conclusions (14).

The Times Higher Education ranking includes research quality and research environment as criteria for evaluating universities (15). Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU) is one of the modern universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. it was established in 2009. The vision statement of the university is “A university that is distinguished in education, competitive in research in support of knowledge economy, and effective in partnerships and social responsibility” to fulfill Saudi Vision 2030 (1, 16). Despite its newest foundation, its institutional ranking is currently 601–800th according to Times Higher Education 2025 (17).

The College of Dentistry at PSAU conducted a needs assessment to analyze the status and needs of oral healthcare professionals to improve their research competencies since research has become a priority of every higher education institution. Needs can improve performance or fix a certain shortcoming. It is a fact that improving faculty research skills cannot be done overnight, thus careful planning and prioritization of training must be efficiently considered. Specific topics in research must be identified clearly and rated according to their degree of need and urgency. There are a scarce number of studies regarding the assessment of research training needs in Saudi Arabia. This study intended to bridge gaps that hinder Oral healthcare Professionals from acquiring knowledge and skills based on their needs to contribute appropriately for improving ranking in the global university league. This study aimed to identify the key research competencies deemed essential by oral healthcare professionals, focusing on their knowledge and prioritization to enhance research productivity at the College of Dentistry- (PSAU), Saudi Arabia.

The College of Dentistry recognizes the significance of research in knowledge, innovation, and social advancement. Research training needs must be assessed to ensure faculty have the necessary research competencies (19–22). Needs assessment aids in analysis and prioritization of faculty development to improve education quality (23). Sometimes faculty members perceiving their knowledge as limited and prioritizing these items accordingly. Conversely, at other times, faculty may perceive their knowledge to be significant and their priorities regarding these items to be correspondingly high (23, 24). A previous study (25) indicated that self-assessment among health professions educators frequently reveals gaps between perceived competence and perceived importance, thereby emphasizing areas that require focused professional development. This study aimed to identify the key research competencies deemed essential by oral healthcare professionals, focusing on their knowledge and prioritization to enhance research productivity at the College of Dentistry- (PSAU), Saudi Arabia. Consequently, any item within the Knowledge and Priority areas of this study that received a percentage exceeding 40% was classified as a high priority (23, 24).

Prince Sattam University organizes a variety of training programs including research skills on a yearly schedule distributed before the academic year begins. Up to 50% rated the training program as acceptable and 11.54%–28.85% rated it as poor to fair. These findings necessitate a modernization process. The justification is due to the unsuitable timing of the training activities and the non-mandatory nature of these activities.

The study findings’ indicated that assistant professor demonstrated a high-priority research training needs compared to professors and associate professors. This finding reflects differences in self-reported competency levels and perceived priorities across academic ranks. Additionally, the results showed that eight research competencies were rated as higher priority, indicating areas where additional training and professional development may be beneficial. These findings emphasize the importance of aligning faculty development initiatives with identified training needs to strengthen research capacity at the institutional level. These training priorities may be considered within the context of ongoing developments in healthcare systems and evolving academic promotion requirements at the institutional level. Our findings align with prior research indicating that junior faculty demonstrate increased motivation to engage in structured professional development as they strive to establish their scholarly identities (26). Furthermore, previous studies indicate that early-career faculty priorities pedagogical training more than senior faculty, who generally rely on their accumulated experience instead of formal training (27, 28). Additionally, partnership with the national Saudi Commission for Healthcare Specialties to build a postgraduate training program, “Saudi Board for Family Dental Medicine,” would improve health practitioners’ research skills. Also, the College of Dentistry is preparing to switch from a traditional to a competency-based approach, and new curricula emphasizing faculty development. Since research and scholarship are essential for oral healthcare professionals, these findings support the value of implementing tailored research training activities that are aligned with academic rank. Most participants choose face-to-face or online training programs. The findings support previous evidence suggesting academics prefer interactive professional development. This shows that academic personnel prefer interactive training that incorporates the application and practice of acquired knowledge (29, 30).

By addressing research training needs, it would improve educational research environment, produce relevant and impactful research outcomes, contribute to the broader societal development goals and consequently boosting the institution's academic standing. The study findings provide institution policymakers customized research plans for each academic rank depending on their knowledge and priority level to execute effective training programs. Clear research plans characterize a “vital and sustainable” research environment. Furthermore, it is essential to continue conducting research on training needs assessments to support sustainable global progress, particularly in relation to SDG 4 (14). This study has limitations; the findings are based on self-reported data, which may not fully reflect actual research competencies since participants may overestimate or underestimate their abilities or respond in accordance with perceived expectations. Although the study included a significant percentage of eligible faculty members; however, the overall sample size and the limited number of subgroups restrict the statistical power of comparisons between ranks. Therefore, subgroup findings must be interpreted cautiously and may not be generalizable beyond the institutional context. The questionnaire was developed for institutional needs assessment and evaluated for face and content validity; however, comprehensive psychometric validation, including internal consistency or factor analysis, was not conducted. Future research should integrate qualitative methodologies, involve teaching assistant personnel, and enhance the validation of the measurement instrument to obtain a deeper understanding of faculty training requirements.

This study provides tailored dental research training programs. They highlighted key areas for research training competencies that should be prioritized to strengthen the research capabilities of faculty members, resulting in better research outcomes. The findings indicate differences in perceived training priorities among academic ranks, with assistant professors recognizing a broad range of development areas, whereas associate professors and professors emphasized more focused, rank-specific competencies. These insights may support the strategic planning of faculty development activities designed to enhance institutional research capacity.