In this baseline study, the authors analyze in detail many of the factors that influenced the research career intentions of the 1994 U.S. graduates of MD-only programs. Studies of the research interests of the nation's medical school graduates are important because MD-PhD programs do not produce sufficient numbers of physician-scientists, and the remainder must come from the regular population of medical graduates. Data on school characteristics and medical students' demographics, research career intentions, and educational experiences were derived from the AAMC's Institutional Profile System (IPS), Student Application and Information Management System (SAIMS), Matriculating Student Questionnaire (MSQ), and Medical School Graduation Questionnaire (GQ). The 1994 GQ was used as the index instrument to make the correlations reported in this article. A number of findings emerged concerning the 1994 graduates. A greater percentage of these students who began medical school with strong research career intentions and maintained these intentions had entered private medical schools. The lower rate of research interest amongst the students enrolled in public medical schools was compounded by the significantly greater loss of earlier research intentions of those in public schools compared with those in private schools.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)