According to Mehr reporter, Dr. Shahin Akhundzadeh said today at the 25th Aburihan Biruni Research Festival, which was held at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences: Without Ruderbaisti, the state of our research in the coury is not good. But the reason for that was in the universities and voices from the universities who said that our research is not useful.
Referring to the trend of scieific publications in Iran, he explained: In 1968, we were the first coury in the region, but the Middle East did not have a share in the world’s science production, and in another sense, we were the first among the studes of the lazy. 10 years later, the imposed war destroyed our infrastructure and our total iernational articles became 165 articles. All the governmes tried and we gradually regained the first rank in the region from 2017, and our difference with other couries in the region increased. We have had a decline since 2021.
The reason for the decline in the trend of scieific publications in the coury
The Vice Preside of Research and Technology of the Ministry of Health poied to the reason for the decline in scieific publications in the coury and stated: 90% of the reason is financial resources. Currely, Saudi Arabia is ahead of us and we have reached the third place in the region, yet we project and say that Saudi Arabia does doping and employs researchers from other couries. If Saudi Arabia does the right thing and has invested in this field.
The difference between Iran and Saudi investme in the field of artificial ielligence
Akhundzadeh said about the difference between the investme of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the field of artificial ielligence: Iran has invested 10 million dollars in artificial ielligence, while Saudi Arabia has invested 25 billion dollars; How do we wa to compete in this situation?
He said: We did not get the first rank in the region with good research planning and manageme, we reached this position by relying on our human resources. We have capable young people and we achieved success with them. Without them, we would not have reached here despite these limited and mismanaged resources.
Referring to the statistics of highly cited articles, which can be an indication of the quality of research, the Deputy Minister of Health said: the number of highly cited articles in Saudi Arabia is 5,657, and Iran has 4,110 highly cited articles. If we remove articles full of authors, our distance will be even greater. This is because we do not spend money on research and as a result the quality of our research also decreases.
Technology is not possible without research
While criticizing people who say “research is not importa and we should stick to technology”, he said: technology is not possible without research. We’ve also fallen behind in technology in rece years. China and India, which rank first and third in the world in research, also grew in technology. We cannot stop research and say that we wa to grow in technology.
Akhundzadeh criticized the self-righteous people who say that universities only write articles, and poied to the technology cycle and said: The technology cycle starts with research, the output of that article, and then it reaches the policy package, and after that it reaches the impact of research. The impact of research in medical sciences should end with increasing life expectancy, increasing quality of life, etc.
Referring to the publication of an article in 2002, which eveually led to the national hypothyroidism program, he said: As a result of this national program, 32,000 babies with hypothyroidism were ideified and this preveed many problems. This is the effect of this article.
According to the Deputy Minister of Health; At prese, many effects of research can be seen with Altmetrics indicators.
Do not listen to the Ministry of Health
Akhundzadeh made suggestions to improve the conditions despite these economic conditions and iernational sanctions and said: My suggestion to the universities is to not listen to the words of the Ministry of Health headquarters at all. Where in the world do they decide for university? Universities are independe and should act independely. Based on this, I have given authority to the universities to act independely.
He stated that the path of capable professors should not be hindered and said: All members of our faculty are not researchers, this should be taken io accou. He should not insist to a professor who is not a researcher to have theses and articles. We should not discou the research and thesis and be an obstacle to a capable professor.
The Deputy Researcher of the Ministry of Health added: Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences has had a good end because of the stability of its manageme in rece years, and I hope this procedure will coinue.
