Introduction: the conduct and publication of scientific studies contribute to the development of dentistry.Objective: determine the scientific production of deans and directors of dental schools in Peru. Methods: a cross-sectional observational descriptive study was conducted of a sample of 15 deans and 25 directors of dental schools in 2019. Identification of scientific production was based on a search for papers published in the databases SciELO and Scopus and the search engine Google Scholar. Results: of the sample analyzed, only 13 (32.5%) had had a paper published in their lifetimes, 9 (22.5%) in the last 5 years and 8 (20%) in the last year. Only 6 (15%) appeared as first authors and 10 (25%) as co-authors. With respect to publications indexed in the databases selected, 8 (20%) were published in Scopus and SciELO, respectively. Conclusions: the scientific production of deans and directors of dental schools in Peru is low.