Comparative Meta-analysis of Fifty-one Iranian Medical Universities Regarding Faculty Members Information

Faculty members are the key components of any medical university. The number, specialty, scientific rank, and H-index play a significant role in the general primacy of any university. This study compared 51 Iranian medical universities regarding faculty members in terms of total number of faculty members per medical university, ISI articles of each top faculty member, citations, average citations per paper of each, H-index, their scientific rank, and their specialty. In this analytic-descriptive study conducted in 2018 in Yazd, Iran, the data were gleaned from 51 Iranian medical universities affiliated to  the Iranian Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education using Electronic Scientific Measurement System and analyzed with SPSS19 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) using descriptive statistics of frequency, range, mean, SD, and also correlations. Independent medical schools, medical research centers, and Islamic Azad University medical schools were excluded. Data analysis showed the maximum and minimum number of faculty members at each medical university, total number of ISI articles, total citations, citations per paper, H-index, scientific rank, and specialty of each top faculty member. There were statistically weak, moderate, and strong correlations between the five variables under study. The findings of this study showed that there were 18972 medical faculty members teaching and researching in Iranian medical universities. Yet, there was an imbalance in the variables under study in different medical universities located in different parts of Iran. A more balanced distribution of faculty members and resources is required to improve medical education in all parts of Iran. The findings of the study may be added to the WHO database to be used by foreign students and scholars who want to study medicine or carry out research in Iranian medical universities.