Information and communication technology (ICT) has been widely used in medical education as well as biomedical and population based research, however, the use of ICT in China is still insufficient. This study aimed to investigate the use, perceptions and attitudes of ICT use in biomedical and population based research among faculty members in medical universities in southern China. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among faculty members working in the health sciences discipline in 6

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... major universities in southern China. A self-completed online questionnaire was used for data collection. Findings Of 270 faculty members enrolled, 206 faculties (76%) used ICT in their work and 54% were female. Few faculty members took an online course or were trained on ICT use before. The ICT-using group was more experienced than the ICT-free group (P= 0.047). The most frequently used ICT tools were mobile phone, the Internet, non-mobile computer system, WeChat (similar to Facebook -a popular social communication tool in China) and QQ (a popular chat tool in China). The use of non-mobile computer systems, WeChat and QQ in ICT-using group was more frequent than in ICT-free group (P<0.05). The attitudes towards the use of ICT in professional work varied between two groups, mainly on the practicability of ICT; the best way to reach their universities with an ICT related training program was introducing the successful examples of ICT used by faculties. Conclusions This study suggests that faculty members from medical universities in southern China use ICT commonly, but they lack in-depth understanding of ICT use. The findings also demonstrate the shallow perception and positive attitude of ICT use among faculty members and highlight an urgent need for an ICT training course to promote the learning and teaching environment in most medical universities in China.