Background Globally, the demands on dental educators continue to diversify and expand. Due to their importance and value, mentoring programs have been acknowledged as a means of recruiting, developing, and retaining academics in dental education. Objective This protocol is for a scoping review that aims to identify the goals of mentoring programs for academic staff in dental faculties and determine how these programs were structured, delivered, and evaluated. Methods The review will be performed in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute’s methodology for scoping reviews, which covers both qualitative and quantitative scientific literature as well as grey literature written in English and published between 2000 and 2020. The databases will include PubMed, Ovid, the Educational Resources Information Center database, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, Trove, Web of Science, Openthesis.org, and the website of the American Dental Education Association. A manual search will also be conducted by using the reference lists of included studies to identify additional articles. Working independently, the authors will participate iteratively in literature screening, paper selection, and data extraction. Disagreements between the reviewers will be resolved by discussion until a consensus is reached or after consultation with the research team. Key information that is relevant to the review questions will be extracted from the selected articles and imported into a Microsoft Excel file. The PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) will be used to guide the reporting of this protocol. Results The search for appropriate literature has commenced, and we aim to present the results before the end of the 2021 academic year. Conclusions The development of formal mentorship programs for academics in dental education will enhance the retention of academic staff. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/27239

BACKGROUND Globally, the demands on dental educators continue to diversify and expand. The importance and value of mentoring programs have been acknowledged as a means of recruiting, developing, and retaining academics in dental education. OBJECTIVE This protocol is for a review which aims to identify the goals of mentoring programs for academic staff in dental faculties, and how these programs were structured, delivered, and evaluated. METHODS The review will be performed in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews, covering both qualitative and quantitative scientific literature as well as grey literature, written in English between 2000 and 2020. The databases will include PubMed; Ovid; ERIC, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, Trove, Web of Science, Openthesis.org, and the website of the American Dental Education Association (www.adea.org). A manual search will also be conducted using the reference lists of included studies to identify additional articles. Working independently, the authors will participate iteratively in screening the literature and paper selection and data extraction. Disagreements between the reviewers will be resolved by discussion until consensus is reached or after consultation with the research team. RESULTS Key information relevant to the review questions will be extracted from the selected articles and imported into an MS Excel file. Using a narrative review, the ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for Scoping Reviews’ will guide the reporting of this protocol. CONCLUSIONS The development of a formal mentorship program for academic staff in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa will be negotiated.

Mentoring programs contribute to the development and retention of academics in dental education. To describe the perceptions of academic staff of the Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Western Cape, South Africa, about a funded pilot mentoring process. Cross-sectional, purposive sampling qualitative design. Twenty mentees who had engaged in the funded mentoring process were targeted for semi-structured interviews, to describe their perceptions about the ongoing mentorship process, experiences in other mentoring processes, and expectations about future formal mentoring in the faculty. Quantitative data was analysed descriptively, while content analysis of the qualitative data was performed to identify themes. Perceptions of eight mentees, aged 37 to 59 years and spent between 3 and over 20 years in the faculty, were categorized into two themes - ‘A welcome initiative’ and ‘Mentorship seen as a holistic experience’. The program provided the much-needed space where mentees felt they could seek guidance for their development. Expectations from a future formal program included assistance in meeting institutional and personal demands. Participants’ expectations were broader than what the pilot program offered, though