What the policy and stewardship landscape of a national health research system looks like in a developing country like Iran: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: The health research system (HRS) is an important national priority that requires a systematic and functional approach. Evaluating the HRS of Iran as a developing country and identifying its challenges reveals the stewardship-related role in how the whole system is operating well. This study aims to assess the HRS in terms of stewardship functions and highlight the enhancement points. METHODS: This study was carried out between March 2020 and April 2021 using a systematic review and meta-synthesis of evidence to examine the Iranian HRS stewardship challenges and interview 32 stakeholders, using a critical case sampling and snowballing approach which included both semi-structured and in-depth interviews. The interviewees were selected based on criteria covering policy-makers, managers, research bodies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in health research-related fields like higher education, research, technology, innovation and science. All data were analysed using content analysis to determine eight main groups of findings under three levels: macro, meso, and micro. RESULTS: Analysis of the findings identified eight main themes. The most critical challenges were the lack of an integrated leadership model and a shared vision among different HRS stakeholders. Their scope and activities were often contradictory, and their role was not clarified in a predetermined big picture. The other challenges were legislation, priority-setting, monitoring and evaluation, networking, and using evidence as a decision support base. CONCLUSIONS: Stewardship functions are not appropriately performed and are considered the root causes of many other HRS challenges in Iran. Formulating a clear shared vision and a work scope for HRS actors is critical, along with integrating all efforts towards a unified strategy that assists in addressing many challenges of HRS, including developing strategic plans and future-oriented and systematic research, and evaluating performance. Policy-makers and senior managers need to embrace and use evidence, and effective networking and communication mechanisms among stakeholders need to be enhanced. An effective HRS can be achieved by redesigning the processes, regulations and rules to promote transparency and accountability within a well-organized and systematic framework

Comparing scientific production of prioritized health areas of Iran's comprehensive scientific map with outlook horizon 1404 countries: A scientometric study: Brief report

Background: Studying and evolution of medical sciences is so important to draw up the future path with a view to per capita of science production. The purpose of this study was to clarify the status and position of Iran in science production and compare it with four competitor countries of the region for 2025. Methods: This research is conducted using the scientometric method our ranked citations and ranked document data collection source is the SCImago database. The statistical population is the priority fields of Iran health program, which has 25 field names In three categories: Infrastructure, survival, perfection, compared with the four competitor countries in the Middle East. The evaluated time period is examined are from 2010 to 2017. Data analysis is performed using Excel software. Results: In three groups of infrastructure, survival, and perfection, the results are as below respectively. The highest rate of progress in terms of the ranked document in the groups of infrastructure, family physician area with 314 growth belongs to Iran, in the groups of survival, Nanosciences with 269 growth belongs to Saudi Arabia and in the groups of perfection, nursing with 193 growth belong to Iran again. But in terms of ranked citations, in the groups of infrastructure, health information management with 193 growth belongs to Saudi Arabia and in the groups of survival, Nano sciences with 247 growth belongs to Saudi Arabia and in the groups of perfection, nursing with 166 growth belongs to Egypt. Conclusion: In terms of ranked citations and ranked document, Iran has achieved the first rank of the region in the majority of subject areas in 2017. Iran and Saudi Arabia in the majority of thematic areas have had an ascending rate and Israel and Turkey have had a descending rate in the ratio of variation in two periods. Iran has also the highest rank in three thematic areas in terms of citations per document comparing to the competitors. © 2020 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Evaluation of the trend of qualitative and quantitative growth of scientific products in prioritized health fields during 2010-2017 based on scientometric Indicactors

Background and Objectives: Before any development in scientific health activities, we have to observe its scope and compare it with health sector. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to determine the quality and quantity of the health-prioritized disciplines mentioned in the comprehensive health plan of Iran. Methods: This scientometric cross-sectional study was done during 2010-2017. The study population was 26 prioritized areas in three categories of survival, excellence, and infrastructure according to comprehensive health plan of Iran in 2010. The data collection tool was the SCImago database. The number of documents, citation indicators, and h-index were analyzed by Excel. Results: The findings of the research showed that the highest h-index of Iran in the excellence, survival, and infrastructure category was in Nano (90), infectious diseases (67), and systematic ecology (56), respectively. Moreover, the highest ranked citations in three categories of survival, infrastructure, and excellence were related to traditional medicine, family medicine, and dentistry with a global rank of 8, 9 and 15, respectively. In categories of excellence, survival and infrastructure; public health, bioinformatics, and infectious diseases had the highest number of products with 7045, 5371 and 5135 articles. Conclusion: There has been a marked improvement in the quality and quantity of all the subject categories over time. The general domains of excellence, survival, and infrastructure categories had the highest mean H-index, and the highest average growth rate of scientific productions was related to excellence, infrastructure and survival categories, respectively