According to Mehr reporter, Shahin Akhundzadeh, at the unveiling ceremony of knowledge-based deal products of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, which was held today, Tuesday, December 16, at the Faculty of Deistry of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, referring to the historical position of the Faculty of Deistry of this university in the production of science, he said: The former National Faculty of Deistry was one of the first cores of iernational science production in Iran and played an importa role in the formation of deal science in the coury.
Referring to his experiences in the field of scieific monitoring of Iranian articles over the past five decades, he added: The review of Iranian articles in the past 50 years shows that only a few academic ceers, including Shiraz University, Tehran Faculty of Pharmacy, and the former National Deal Faculty and Shahid Beheshti today, have made the main coribution to the coury’s science production; Not only in the field of medicine, but in the whole Iranian science have had this The subject shows that the Faculty of Deistry of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences was one of the main foundations of deistry in Iran.
The Vice Preside of Research and Technology of the Ministry of Health stated that in the last three decades, the research situation of the coury’s deal schools has improved significaly, and stated: In the evaluations, especially in terms of scieific citations, the average performance of the faculty of the deal schools has in some cases been even better than that of the medical schools; A topic that shows the significa growth of research in this field.
He coinued: “When the best studes of the coury eer deal schools with ranks below 50, if we cannot develop their research capacity properly, we have failed.” These studes have the ability to produce science at the border of knowledge, and a suitable research environme should be provided for them.
Emphasizing the role of studes in the research progress of deal schools, Akhundzadeh said: Many articles published in the world lack new findings, while our deal studes have the ability to obtain articles with scieific innovation from their theses. For this reason, it is necessary for dissertations to lead to the production of articles in a targeted manner.
Warning of the scieific backwardness of the coury
Referring to the general state of science in the coury, he noted: Unfortunately, in rece years, signs of scieific regression have been observed, and the global rankings of universities also confirm this issue. This issue is a warning bell that should be taken io serious consideration in research policies.
The Vice Preside of Research and Technology of the Ministry of Health emphasized that the criteria for evaluating science in the world is not just articles, he said: At one poi, we we against the article to an extreme. The result of this approach was that we first weakened the production of articles, and then faced a drop in scieific rankings; you fell Today, the same critics ask questions about it.
Referring to the drop in the coury’s scieific status, Akhundzadeh added: It is true that the rankings do not show all the reality of science, but these rankings indicate the existence of a dynamic research environme. In the past, despite sanctions and lack of financial resources, our coury ranked first in the region, and this gave confidence to the scieific community, but unfortunately, we destroyed this psychological and scieific capital.
He coinued: Now it is very difficult to return to that position. Although we have not eered the decline phase compared to last year and even had a slight increase, we are still losing our regional rank because the couries in the region are developing rapidly. We have lost the opportunity to lead the region and we have lowered our position.
The drop in the position of Iranian deistry in the rankings
Referring to the state of deistry, Akhundzadeh stated: The coury’s deistry rank has reached 12th from 8th and 9th, while the scieific capacity of the coury is much higher than these numbers. Couries like Saudi Arabia, which have been sending their general medical studes abroad for decades, are unfortunately ahead of us today.
Referring to the index of scieific citations, Akhundzadeh said: Although our rank in citations is relatively acceptable and we have reached from 15th to 13th, it should be noted that citations do not always depend on the performance of the same year and sometimes reflect the activities of previous years. However, for a coury with Iran’s scieific capacities, it is not acceptable for the couries of the region to surpass us.
The scieific developme of Saudi Arabia is not unrealistic or doping
He emphasized: We must talk clearly about the scieific situation of the coury so that we can reach a solution. The view that we are the best or attributing the growth of couries in the region to unrealistic factors and saying that this coury has progressed with doping does not help to solve the problem. Couries like Saudi Arabia are gradually improving their scieific status by planning, investing and creating an academic environme.
Referring to Iran’s scieific position, Akhundzadeh added: H Our index ranks 29. This index is highly subject to time and the couries that are older in the research, H They have a better index. For this reason, even though China has the first rank in terms of publications, but in H The index is far from England, but a decade later H The index also gets high ranks.
Regarding Iran’s regional position in 2024, he said: Iran has reached the fourth position in the region, which is not a favorable situation. Türkiye has always been strong in terms of research, but a coury like Egypt does not invest much, but it is higher than us. Although the gaps are still not large and can be compensated.
Referring to the existing capacities in the field of scieific deal publications, he said: Deal journals of the coury, including the journals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, have the capacity to be indexed and improve their iernational status. In some cases, the weakness in policy making and support has caused these capacities not to be used. Despite this, our distance with the couries of the region is still not much, and with targeted investme and right decisions, this path can be corrected.
The need to strengthen iernational cooperation
The Vice Preside of Research and Technology of the Ministry of Health considered part of the existing problems to be the result of weakness in iernational cooperation and clarified: scieific cooperation in the world is such that academic faculty members communicate with each other directly; For example, a professor coacts his couerpart at another university and a collaboration is formed to teach a technique or use laboratory facilities. If these ieractions are not facilitated, iernational cooperation will not be formed.
Criticizing iernal strictures, he said: I believe, we ourselves have made the path of iernational cooperation more difficult than foreign restrictions and sanctions. We have reduced academic ieractions by requiring faculty members to provide permission, report where you go and why you go, etc. We ourselves have made the path of iernational cooperation more difficult than the embargo. Of course, economic issues are also not unaffected, but we should not make the situation more difficult by creating unnecessary restrictions.
Akhundzadeh stated: “I was in a meeting today and the heads of the coury came to the decision that they should allocate the equivale of foreign currency for study opportunities and the attendance of faculty members in iernational conferences.” It was the same way 30 years ago and it was decided to start this process again.
The vice preside of research and technology of the Ministry of Health, referring to the statistics of the last six years of article production, said: Tehran and Shahid Beheshti Universities of Medical Sciences still play the main role in the production of deal articles in the coury. If the general deal journals are properly indexed, they can significaly increase the scieific weight of the coury; As similar examples in other couries have played such a role.
He poied out: The way to improve the quality and effectiveness of research in deistry is to move towards teamwork, ier-university work, and especially iernational cooperation. The presence of foreign authors in the articles is considered a scieific advaage and has a direct effect on visibility and citation It has coury researches.
